Born of the Night
by angel3db
Summary: What if Angel wasn't the only one to be sent to hell by Acathla in season two. What if by the twist of fate 'The One Who See's' was sent with him.
1. Prologue

**Born of the Night**

What if Angel wasn't the only one to be sent to hell by Acathla in season two. What if by the twist of fate 'The One Who See's' was sent with him.

This is an answer to a challenge of, what if Angel wasn't the only one to be sent to hell at the end of season 2. Also this is my first Xander fic, so please be gentle and I hope to get some useful feedback.

Prologue

Sunnydale

Night

A dark figure stood silhouetted in the darkness on top of a high building in Sunnydale. Crouching down on the edge of the building, he drank in the night as if it were his last time seeing it.

"Hell is a furnace of unquenchable fire, a place of everlasting punishment, where its victims are tormented in both their bodies and their minds." the figure said as his eyes glowed an unholy shade of red.

As he said that he sat back and thought about the horrors he had seen and the things he had witnessed.

"It's a place where God's mercy and goodness have been withdrawn, and Satan's wrath is revealed as a terrifying, consuming fire. And on May the 19, 1998 I was sent there."

_"Buffy!" a teen yelled out as he ran forward, only to be sucked into a huge portal. As he traveled through the dark tunnel, he heard the wails of the dead and his body started to slowly burn._

Shaking the memory out of his head, he again scanned the night.

"When I returned to my hometown, I found that I was gone for only a short amount of time. It's funny really, because in hell I was there for over three hundred years. I wasn't allowed to age, only to burn. While there I met alot of enemies..."

_A legion of hell's demons, of all shapes a sizes surround a lone figure and beat him to the ground mercilessly._

"as well as a few friends."

_A young man, wearing a cowboy outfit hands another man a six shooter revolver, with a solid black handle. Twirling it in his hand, the cowboy showed him how to use it._

"After starting an army, I rebelled against hell's minions. And after talking to a few demons I managed to find a way out. Now I'm back home. I'm back in Sunnydale."

Suddenly a scream cut through the night, like a hot knife through butter. With a smile on his face, the figure unsheathed a katana from his back and twirled it around in his hands.

"And now that I'm here, I'm going to send the demons here a little message. And that message is that I'm going to send them all to hell."

With that said he jumped off the edge of the building. As the moons light finally captured his features, it was seen to be a teen, with shoulder length black hair and intense brown eyes. He was wearing nothing more then black jeans, boots, and shoulder straps where his revolver sat at his side. And the sword he held in his hand looked to be a katana, with a long blade and a hilt with the carving of a cherub at the base of it.

In hell he was known simply as Xander, but now on earth he'll be known as Alexander the fallen angel.

A/N In the next chapter I'll show a little of hell, as well as how Xander get's back to earth. Please review. Also the italics were flashbacks he was having.


	2. Chapter 1 Into The Flames pt1

A/N Thanks for the great reviews. They really help out a lot.

Chapter 1

Into The Flames pt.1

Sunnydale Memorial Hospital

May 19, 1998

'God, just please tell me what to do.' Xander thought to himself as he walked out of Willow's hospital room and out of the hospital itself. 'Can life get any worse? Kendra's dead, Giles is gone, Willow's hurt and wants to bring Angel's soul back, ... and Buffy doesn't even want my help.'

"God just tell me what to do!" he yelled into the wind.

"I don't know about, God." a voice said, interrupting his reverie. "But I can tell you what you have to do."

Looking around, Xander saw that he was so much in a daze that he had walked all the way to the Restfield cemetery. Glancing around for the voice that had spoken to him, he saw a well muscled man with shoulder length black hair, wearing a toga styled outfit with a chest plate of armour, sitting on a nearby crypt, smiling at him.

"Who...who are you?" Xander asked, as he took a step back. There was something about the man that seemed dangerous, but also familiar. It was as if he was supposed to have known the man from somewhere.

"I have many names, Alexander. But you may call me Natas." he said with a slight bow, as huge white wings spreaded out of his back. "I am an angel."

"I...I can't believe this..."

"You must, Alexander because you don't have much time. Buffy is in great danger."

"But she told me..."

"I care not of what she's told you." the angel cut him off. "I've been sent here to give you a warning. Acathla will be awakened and the only way of closing it's portal is the sacrifice of a heroes heart...their soul."

"Buffy..."

"Yes. She will sacrifice herself for the world, but that in itself lies the problem. Buffy is the only Slayer in history meant to stop the ultimate evil."

"But won't other Slayer's come and fight after her death?" Xander asked curiously.

"No. Buffy has already given her life and the Slayer line will no longer pass through her. A new Slayer has been chosen in Boston, but she'll be no match for what's to come."

"Then why are you here talking to me?" Xander asked. "I'm not a hero. You're just wasting your time."

"On the contrary Alex, you are. We've been watching you for quite some time and you're needed." Natas said as he leaned back into the darkness.

"Wha...what do you want me to do?"

"It's not what I want you to do, it's what I'm asking of you." Natas said with a grimace. "Without Buffy's presence the world is doomed. I need to know how much you love her? I need to know if you're willing to give your very soul in order to protect her, your friends..."

"Yes..." Xander said as tears stung his eyes. Truth be told he would do anything for Buffy. He was still in love with her.

"Cry not knight." Natas said as he stood to his feet and extended his hand. "You will be lost but not forgotten. It was foretold that the protector of man would rage a war in hell and free himself. That person is you, Alexander. Now take this as a gift from the powers that be. Este la gra ha, tempus daynum..."

As he started his spell, Xander hovered a few feet above ground as a white light surrounded him. After a couple of seconds, of the blinding light, he felt himself being lowere to the ground. Opening his eyes he saw that the cast that was on his hand was gone and that his broken hand was healed. Feeling a weight on his back, he turned his head and saw the hilt of a sword strapped to his back. Not seeing much of it, all that he could make out was the small cherub, sitting on the pummel.

" You will not perish in hell, for the devil doesn't have the power to destroy the soul. But he will fight you, but with that you have a fighting chance." he said as he looked up to the moon and felt a power rising. "Go now, Alexander before it's too late."

"I...I..." not knowing what to say, Xander tried to dry his tears, because of the sacrifice that he was about to make, before he turned and ran off into the night.

Seeing Xander run away, seemed to bring a smile to Natas' face, before he burst out into a full on evil chuckle.

'What an idiot. He doesn't even know when he's being lied too.' Natas thought to himself, before he dissappeared in black smoke.

Angelus' Mansion

Moments Later

Bored to tears after hearing another one of the galloping poofsters speeches about destroying the world, Spike got up out of his wheelchair behind Angelus with a determined look on his face. Remembering his deal with Buffy, he picked up an andiron and whipped Angelus hard across the back, making him cry out in pain and collapse to the floor.

Hearing the sound of steel meeting flesh, Drusilla twisted her head to look at Spike, as he continued to whale on Angelus as hard as he could. As Buffy started for Drusilla, the first of their vampire minions lunged her. Seeing him in time, she spun around to face him, but he punched her in the face making her fall to the floor. With another growl he walked over to her, but she tripped him and with a spinning maneuver she got back to her feet, ready to fight. Bringing her hands together in a come on gesture, he came at her again with a series of punches, all of which she easily blocked.

"Painful, innit?" Spike asked Angelus as he kept beating the crap out of him.

"Daddy..." Drusilla said as she began to freak, before jumping on Spike, taking him down to the floor with her.

Taking the advantage Buffy's assailant backhand punched her in the face, and she went staggering into a chair by the wall. Shrugging it off, she quickly recovered to block another swing, just as she brought her knee up into his gut and kicked him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Spying a pile of broken wood fragments on the floor she went to it. Just as the vampire got to his feet to surprise her from behind, Xander came into the room and surprised him with a punch. Picking up a suitable piece of scrap wood, Buffy turned around and was surprised to see Xander walking towards her.

"Xander what the hell are you doing here?" Buffy asked heatedly. "I thought I told you to stay with the others."

"Just acting as backup." he replied with a sad smile, as he saw Angelus standing to his feet. "Where's Giles?"

"I don't know, but you go and find him." she replied as she turned around and saw Spike taking Drusilla out the back and Angelus walking towards her with murder in his eyes.. "I'll deal with this."

"Buffy, I have to tell you something first. It's something Willow wanted me to tell you about Angel." Xander said before he ran off.

"What?" Buffy asked, as she reached into the black duffle bag at her foot, producing the sword Kendra had given her.

"She said...kick his ass."

"I plan on it." she replied as she engaged Angelus in mortal combat.

With that said Xander backed off to go look for Giles. Pushing aside a curtain to another room he found him tied to a chair, with his head tilted back looking very weak.

"Giles! Giles!" Xander yelled rousing the Watcher, making him lifted his head slowly. Seeing that he had awakened, Xander crouched behind the chair and began to untie the ropes.

"Xander?" Giles asked, as some of the haze finally cleared out of his mind.

"Can you walk?"

"You're...you're not real." Giles said as he looked up at the boys face.

"Sure, I'm real, G-man."

"It's a trick. They get inside my head, make me see things I want." Giles replied as Xander untied the ropes and went around to look into Giles' face.

"Then why would they make you see me?"

"Dear, God you're right. Let's go." the older man said with a groan as Xander got under his arm and helped him out of the chair.

"Come on." Xander said as they made their way though the main hall as fast as they could and out the door. As soon as they felt the night air and were a safe distance away from the house, Xander let go of Giles and sat him down beside a tree. "This is where, I get off G-man."

"What...what on earth are you doing?" Giles asked as he finally took a good look at the boy. There was something different about him and looking over his shoulder he saw something that he had seen a picture of long ago when he was a boy. And remembering what he was looking at, he knew that the sword was dangerous. "Xander..."

"I wanted to tell you something, G-ma...Giles. For the past two years you've been more of a father to me then my real dad has ever been. I...I just wanted to say thank you for that and I wanted you to deliver a message to the others for me. Tell them...tell them that I love them...I..." at a loss for words for the second time that night, Xander handed Giles a stake and took off back towards the mansion.

"Xander no!" Giles yelled after him. It was if he was saying goodbye. If he was right about the sword Xander carried, the boy's soul itself was in danger.

As Xander ran back into the mansion, he heard the low hum of something in the darkness. Quickly walking into the main room, he saw that Acathla was awakened and that Buffy and Angelus, were standing right in front of it.

"No..." Xander croaked as he unsheathed his sword and ran forward, just as Buffy rammed Angelus through the stomach with her sword. "Buffy!"

Hearing her name yelled, Buffy turned around, with tears in her eyes, just in time to see Xander run past her and bump into Angel, sending both of them into the portal.

"Xander?" Buffy asked as the portal closed behind them. It took a moment for her to realize what had happened and when she did, she cried just that much harder as she fell to her knees in grief. She had just lost her lover and now her best friend. "No..."

* * *

As the portal closed behind them, Angel and Xander went tumbling down a steep hill. Seperating and going different directions, Angel was taken by a group of demons, just as Xander kept falling. Opening his eyes, Xander watched his descent, even in his roll, and saw that he was headed towards a lake of fire. Gripping the sword, tighter in his hand, he used his upper body strength and jammed it into the ground, ending his roll. 

Xander hung there in agony, sweat-drenched, straining as he stopped on the edge. Hanging limply over the tremendous drop, he struggled with his own dead weight. With a grunt he pulled himself up and had to use his sword as an anchor to get back up the hill. Finally reaching the top with sweat, blood, and tears stinging his eyes he finally pulled himself up.

"Where the hell am, I?" he had to ask himself as he took a look around. The sky of the huge caved looking area was red like fire and as far as the eye could see, as he stood on top of the hill, lakes of lava filled the place. Remembering his promise to Natas, he thought about where he was and sighed.

'Well, atleast it's not as hot as everyone said it was.' he thought to himself as he took a look around, at the devilish cavern. All the while he didn't see that his sword was softly glowing a dark purple. The power of it was keeping him from feeling all the effects of hell...the heat.

Starting his walk, Xander noticed how hard it was to simply do that, leaving him to believe that the gravity of this place was vastly different then that of earth's. 'Maybe that's why demons and vamps are so strong.'

As the hellish noises lurked in the shadows, Xander tightened his hold on his sword and fearfully peered into the darkness. Hearing someone screaming in pain, his legs moved all that faster as he ran around a corner.

When he did, he saw four large demons stomping something to the ground. Upon his eyes adjusting to the darkness, he saw that it was a person that they were kicking. Steeling himself, he walked up to the one closet to him and swung his sword... only for the demon to turn around and catch the sword in his clawed hand.

"So you thought that you could sneak up on me?" the demon asked with a small chuckle, as his companions turned around to look at him. Still holding onto the blade of the katana, the demons hand suddenly started to sizzle and then smoke. "Sththeibyigygiihuh!" the demon cursed as he let go of the blade and slapped Xander hard across the face, sending him flying with bone shattering force into the side of a boulder.

"He has the sword of Abjouron." a demon, that had the face of a bizzarre monkey, with red glowing eyes and dressed all in gold armour, growled as he pointed to the sword that Xander desperately kept clucthed in his hands. "No human is supposed to possess it."

"I know." the demon with the burning hand said as he stared at it. "Now let's go."

"But Dragmar, you know what's going to..."

"Of course I know, you fool." Dragmar growled. "I know more about it's purpose then you do. Now let's go." as they turned around to walk off, Dragmar turned back around to Xander and smiled. "Welcome to hell, knight. Until we meet again."

"You...you sure scared those boys off." a voice said as Xander opened his eyes. Once he did so, he saw a youth, probably a couple of years older than him, with his hand outstreched. He was slack jawed and wore a tattered cowboy outfit, with a gun on his hip.

"Yeah, and I did it with my killer fighting skills." Xander said with a wince as the man helped him to his feet.

"Well, whatever I still sure owe ya one though." he said as he extended his hand for him to shake. "The names Billy the kid."

"Billy the..." Xander yelled, as he trailed off. No wonder he looked so familiar. When he was younger, he used to really be into cowboys and indians and his favorite person to read about was Billy the kid. But to actually meet him in person. "My names Xander."

"That's an odd name." Billy said with a shrug. "Though everything's a bit odd down here." he said as he took a look around. No matter how long he was down here, he could still never fully get used to it. "You must know me or something? The way you were carrying on with my name and all?"

"You're one of the fastest guns in the west, how could I not have heard of you?"

"Correction fellar, I'm not one of the fastest. I am the fastest gun in the west." Billy, said happily after finally getting some recognition. "I 'spose it don't make a lick of difference down here though."

"Maybe...maybe it will."

"What'cha mean?"

"I mean that I'm gonna start a war." Xander said as he looked over at his new friend. "And I need as much help as I can get. I'm not much of a fighter but..."

"Shoooot, I can help you with that." Billy said slyly, as he wiped some blood off his chin. "And as for the war, count me in."

With a new friendship forged, Xander looked out into the endless sea of fire and torment, and slung the flat end of his sword over his shoulder He could feel that the sword was giving him a small amount of power, and with it he would soon be the king of the ring.

Stepping out of the shadows, behind a nearby boulder, Natas smiled over at Xander.

"Soon, you will set me free and the above world will be mine."

"Master." a brown lizard demon whispered from beside him. "We have the vampire, Angelus secured. What is it that you would have me do with him?"

"Torcher him for a couple hundred years, then send him back to earth." Natas said as he turned around to look at the demon. His features had changed slightly, in that his skin was darker and he had little black horns sticking out the top of his head. "Now bother me no more. I have work to do."

"Yes, my master." the demon said as he bowed respectively to him and dissappeared in the shadows.

"Out of the flame and into the fire." Natas said as he changed back into his angelic form and faded away.

A/N Next up, Xander goes home.


	3. Chapter 2 Into The Flames pt2

A/N Takes place during the episode The Zeppo. Also sorry for taking so long to update, I've been really busy.

Chapter 2

Into The Flames pt.2

Hell

As fire unfolded into the darkness of this unholy house it gave way to the sinister imagery of monsters, demons, and torture devices. As another fire started, somewhere else in hell, one could see that the flames were inside an old furnace. In it, a child's doll melted, like evidence being destroyed.

Outside the furnace, a dark shadow moved and it's razor sharp finger nails screeched along a metal pipe. And in the distance an unseen child screamed, even as the figure sat down on her throne.

"I want Alexander found and brought to me."

"Yes my queen." a muscular demonic warrior said as he turned to his army. "Kratos lead my legions and destroy Alexander's insurrectionist's."

"As you wish." the powerfully built bald spartan said with a respective bow.

* * *

A figure sat in the darkness sharpening his blade on a large boulder, with a stone. It had been so long since he had seen the sun, he idly wondered how he could see at all because of that. Sensing something in the room with him, he stopped sharpening the blade and narrowed his eyes. Lifting up his foot, he turned to sidekick, whomever it was only for his foot to be caught in a tight grip.

"Is that anyway to greet an old friend, Knight?" the angel asked as he let go of Xander's foot.

"Natas?" Xander asked with the first genuine smile he had given in decades. "What...what are you doing here?"

"To let you know that your time in hell is almost at an end."

"Hey, Xander." Billy the kid started as he walked into the dark room and looked around. "Who you talkin' too in here?"

"I was talking to..." glancing around himself, he saw that Natas was gone. "I was talking to myself."

"Well take yer head out yer ass, Xandman." Billy said suddenly turning serious. "The devil's army is comin'."

"What...how, how many?"

"About four legions."

"Four... get all of our troops together." Xander said as he gathered his torn leather jacket. "Tell them, I'll be out in a second."

"You're the boss man." the young cowboy said as he walked to the door. "Do you think we're gonna win this fight?"

"Are you kidding? There's no way we're gonna make it through this."

"Well just as long as you get your ass kicked with me." Billy said as he walked out.

Turning to grab his sword, Xander looked back and saw Natas standing behind him.

"Go to the northern and outer most circle of hell, Knight." Natas said as he started to fade away. "There you will find your guide and the key to get out of hell."

Watching as his old friend faded into nothingness Xander gathered his will and his sword and walked out of the room. Walking on top of a large rock formation, he looked down at his ragtag army of 1,000, which was full of rapists, murderers, and drug dealers. Putting his sword over his shoulder, he put on his game face before talking to his men.

"For the last three hundred years, I've been down here getting burned, beaten, and humiliated by the devil. Never in my life have I felt this way and I'm tired of it. And looking at all you men, I can see that you're all tired of it too. So today I choose to stand and fight instead of showing fear. Whose with me!!!!" he yelled out as his men roared back.

Hearing the sounds of war drums, Xander turned and looked across a lake of fire at the approaching crowd. It was hundreds, if not thousands, of demons of all sorts, shapes and sizes. And looking up at the demonically colored red sky, he saw a ghastly huge beast flying angrily toward them overhead.

"It's now or never!" Xander yelled out to his men. "Let's take them!" running forward and charging the line, Xander and his army engaged Satan's army in the most brutal, animalistic way possible.

Cutting down a few lower level demons, with his sword Xander had to duck down as two flaming swords whistled past his head, before whipping back. Looking to see where they came from, he saw the spartan general Kratos standing a few feet in front of him, smiling insanely.The older bald man was easily a foot taller then him, was well muscled with old scars and lined red body paint running along his face and chest. But what was most wierd about him were his world renouned chained swords, the Blades of Chaos.

"My queen wants you brought to her alive, but she said nothing of what condition you had to be in."

Ignoring the banter Xander charged at the villain through the shallow end of the lake of fire and side kicked him in his chest. Merely stumbling backwards, Kratos shrugged off the attack and backhanded him across the face, sending him skidding across the ground.

"And you are the leader of this army?" Kratos asked mockingly. "What foolishness. If you can't get through me, what made you think that you could defeat the devil?"

Blam, Blam, Blam!!!!

Feeling a hot sensation in his upper body, Kratos looked down and saw gaping holes in his chest. Looking back he saw Billy standing behind him, smoking gun in hand, with a smile on his face.

"That's why it's up to me to finish you off." Billy started as Kratos fell to his knees and then face first onto the ground. "Looks like I'm always saving your ass, bossman."

"Yeah." Xander replied as they went back to back.

"We're doing better then I thought we would." Billy went on as the war drums were replaced by the sound of something flapping. As the sound got closer the heat in the large cavern seemed to increase and Satan's army seemed to be retreating.

"What the hell is going on?" Xander asked, more of himself as he again looked up to the sky. As he did he saw red eyes peeking through the veil of darkness watching them. Instantly he knew what they were. "Reapers." as soon as those words left his mouth hundreds of huge bat like demons swooped out of the sky and started to devourer what was left of Xander's army.

Being knocked off his feet, as one of the demons passed, he looked over and saw Billy starting to be eaten by a dozen of the horrid beasts. As their eyes met one last time, Billy used the last of his strength to toss his revolver at Xander's feet. With a wavering smile Billy fell back and allowed the demons to finish their meal.

Not knowing that it was still possible, a tear came to Xander's eye. He thought he had abandoned such emotions of sadness years ago, but yet water dared to form in his eyes. When Natas had told him of a possibility of him being able to go home, he had wanted to take his best friend with him, even though he knew it was wrong. But now... Standing to his feet, after picking up Billy's gun, Xander looked around at his dying army and did something he thought he would never do around people who needed his help. He ran.

* * *

Panting heavily and with labored breathing Xander finally came to the spot where Natas had told him about. Slowly walking around a corner he saw a light shining down on an unholy altar with God knows what surrounding it. Getting a little closer he saw that sitting on top of it was a silver key.

'That must be what's gonna get me out of here?' he asked himself.

Making sure that the coast was clear, he ran from behind the rock that he was hiding behind and reached for it. Only for his arm to be grabbed in a tight grip. Before he knew what was going on, he was suddenly thrown about twenty feet back. Before he contacted the ground, he spun in mid-air and landed on his feet like a cat. Finally seeing who the culprit was, he growled as he saw that it was Kratos.

"Your comrade had poor aim." Kratos said as his wounds started to heal, the bullets being pushed out in the process. "Didn't he know that the only way to kill a high level demon is too go for the heart?"

"Thanks for the tip." Xander mumbled back as he ran forward, sword drawn. With a dangerous smile Kratos pounced forward to attack the young leader.

The spartan general armed his Blades of Chaos and swung them down towards Xander's head. Waiting for the last possible second Xander slapped the blades away with his sword and in the same motion ran it back across the villain's chest. Seeing that he took the bigger man off guard he moved in low and kicked the legs out from underneath him. Jumping back to his feet Kratos whipped out his blades faster then Xander could react. The red hot embers from the swords exploded against Xander's chest and sent him stumbling backward. After only a few more moments of fighting Xander fell to the ground, bruised and battered, as Kratos laughed maniacally.

"And now this game will end." he said raising up his blades.

Weakly grabbing onto the pommel of his sword, Xander watched as his sword pulsed. With new energy channeling throughout his body, he blocked the general's swing and did a fancy spinning move to get back to his feet.

"So you have life left in you after all?" Kratos asked as they circled each other. "Well let me show you a little of my own. Ancient God Mode!" he yelled out. With wide eyes Xander watched as armor formed on his body, aswell as a mystical barrier of energy.

Barely having time to dodge out of the way, the blunt end of Kratos' sword hit him on the side of the head, knocking him off of his feet. Smiling under his helmet Kratos swung his weapons onto the ground and shouted "Hell's destruction!" as an energy wave erupted that tore up the ground before him, splitting it in half. Making his muscles work Xander was able to jump out of the way, even as the wave exploded behind him.

Not giving Xander much time to recover Kratos hurled one of his weapon's at his head. Seeing it coming, Xander closed his eyes ready to except his death. A death that never came however, as. a foot snapped out and kicked the weapon out of the way just in time. Opening his eyes he saw one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, with shoulder length red hair, wearing a skin tight leather outfit standing in front of him.

"Damn you wench." Kratos started as he dropped out of his God mode. "You will perish for interfering."

"I...I don't think so." Xander said weakly as his sword pulsed again. Cutting his hand with his sword, he sheathed it and regarded his enemy. "Blades of blood!" as he tossed his blood forward they formed together as five huge red blades. Not having time to move, Kratos was ripped to pieces by the oncoming wave.

"It's finally over." Xander said falling to his knees.

"Not yet." the mysterious woman said. "Xander we must get out of here."

"Who...who are you?" he asked as she helped him to his feet.

"My name is, Alayah." she informed him. "I was sent here by the arch angel Natas to be your guide."

"Well go over and get the key and then we'll figure a way out of here." he said sinking back down to his knees.

"You don't understand. You're the only one here who's pure enough to touch it." before he could question her logic, since he assumed that she was some sort of angel, they both heard a clammering of demons behind them. Forcing himself to move, he ran over and snacthed up the key, stopping the glow of light.

"Alright, I got it now what the hell am I supposed to do with it?"

" Just concentrate and think of the place where you want to be!" Alayah yelled as the sounds of the demons approaching got louder. Doing as he was told, Xander closed his eyes and through vague memories thought about his home. With a soft glow the key levitated out of his hands and created a portal in front of them. Glancing over his shoulder he saw literally hundreds of demons running towards them. Not having much of a choice, the both of them jumped through the portal.

* * *

A thin distortion opened and Xander came spilling out of it only to land on a rooftop of a high building. As the portal closed behind him, ending the screams of the damned, he slowly stood to his feet and looked around. Standing on the edge of the building, he let the cool night air, whip through him making relief flood his body. A relief that didn't last long as he realized two things. One he was gone from earth for nearly three hundred years, meaning that everyone he ever cared about and loved were long since dead. The second thing he noticed was that his companion was missing.

'Damnit, she must've stayed behind.' he thought to himself as a small ball of light whipped by his head, making an awful buzzing sound. "What is that buzzing? Shoo fly..."

"It's me, Xander." the ball spoke.

"Alayah?" he asked as th ball stopped and hovered by his face.

"Yes, it's me. I never had a physical body in this realm so I must travel here in spiritual form." she informed him. "Is this your homeland?"

"I...I don't know." he replied. "But I'm going to find out."

Sunshine Motel

Three Hours Later

Sitting the bag of new clothes and food down on the table of his small hotel room, Xander took a seat and thought about his situation. After an hour of walking in circles in Sunnydale, he finally remembered where his house was. And he wasn't surprised to find out that the place was boarded up and abandoned. What he was surprised about however, was that he remembered where he had buried the money that he was going to use to travel America after graduation.

After digging up the money, he had walked to a store and gotten somethings to wear and eat and he was shocked to find that he was gone from earth for only a few months. Which meant that his friends might still be alive. Smelling an awful stench, snapped him out of his reverie. Sniffing under his arm, he realized that he hadn't taken a bath in a very long time.

Quickly standing to his feet, he reached into his bag for a bar of soap and a razor, before heading into the bathroom. Walking to the bathtub, he idly thought about how he took for granted the simple things in life, like taking a bath. Letting the tub fill with water, he walked over to the sink to shave and looked at his reflection in the mirror, only to zone out.

"The tub is over running with water." Alayah said into his ear.

"Thanks...I...I just zoned out there for a minute."

"It'll take some time for you to get used to your world again." she told him seriously. "You have been gone for sometime..."

"I'll be fine." he informed her as he reached for the water to test it's warmth, only to recoil from it's touch, his eyes glazing over with golden flecks.

"Yes, I see that you're fine." she told him sadly as she floated towards the door. "I'll let you cleanse yourself."

After almost an hour Xander walked out of the bathroom, in clean all black clothes and freshly shaven. Drying off his hair, he threw the towel to the floor, before sitting down and resting himself. Sensing a presence by the door, it opened and a girl of around seventeen with long black hair, with red streaks in it, wearing scantily clad clothes walked into the room.

"Can, I help you with something?" Xander asked as he stood to his feet. Something about the girl unnerved him, especially her powerful liquid brown eyes.

"A young whore died of a drug overdose in the room next door, so I possessed her body." Alayah said with a violent cough.

"You can do that?"

"Yes, but I might have to change into a different one, because this body is so weak." she said sitting down beside him.

"Stay here and get some rest then. I'm going to go and check on my friends." Xander replied as he picked up his ragged jacket and his sword.

"But..."

"No but's stay here." he said with a warm smile as he walked out of the room. Doing as he suggested, she layed back to get some sleep even as a demonic looking shadow of something flittered about the room.

* * *

Walking through the park, Xander thought about all the things he wanted to say to his friends. Especially Buffy. He needed to tell her that he was still in love with her and he had to make known about the sacrifice he had made for her. He wasn't going to tell her about his sacrifice for pity or bragging rights but rather to show her how much he cared and loved her. Hearing a commotion and feeling a demonic presence he stopped and looked at his surroundings. Narrowing down where he felt the dark energy, he ran and glanced around a corner and was shocked at what he saw.

A girl with long dark hair was thrown against a fence, pulled off and thrown against it again by a red-eyed, bluish-gray skinned demon. With a growl the demon pulled her off again, but she shook loose and did a backhand swing at the demon's head, making it snap hard to the side. Going on the defense, she then punched it in the gut and tried for a second hit to the head, but the demon blocked the attempt, grabbed her arms and threw her to the ground.

Going into a roll, she came back up to her feet and got into a fighting stance. The demon lunged at her, but she kicked it in the knee and then roundhouse kicked it in the head. Without pausing, she launched into a half spinning high wheel kick, which the demon blocked with both arms. Taking advantage the demon threw her leg down, grabbed onto her jacket and swung her around and back into the fence. The demon then rushed her, of whom grabbed the fence behind herself and lifted herself up to do a twin push kick to the demon's gut, shoving it back hard.

Choosing that time to intervene, Xander jump kicked the demon in the chest and smashed the creature across the head with the back of his fist. Jumping back, the demon still cut across his chest with razor sharp talons, drawing blood.

"Hey this was a new shirt." Xander complained, as he ducked down and came up with a decapitating chop of his sword. Watching as the demons head fell off of it's body, Xander resheathed his sword and walked over to the girl who was watching him in awe. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Five by five." the girl said as she got off of the ground and dusted off her behind. "Names, Faith."

"Xander." he introduced himself as he reached his hand out for her to take. Looking down at it she slapped it out of the way and gave him a swift kick to the stomach. As he bent down, holding his gut, she karate chopped him on the back of the neck, sending him to his knees.

"You think, I'm stupid or somethin'?" Faith asked as she prepared another attack. "You think, I can't smell the demon on you?"

"I can explain." Xander replied, wheezily. "I just came from hell."

"Then get ready to go back, yo." she said as she started to hit him again. Anticipating her attack, he caught her arm and blocked her following kick. Blocking another series of punches, he charged up some power into his hands and with an invisible force, pushed her back several feet. As she looked up he was gone.

* * *

Spitting out a few droplets of blood, that swirled around in his mouth Xander ran out of the alley and under a street lamp. As the light glow from the lamp hit his body, one could see that his eyes flickered golden. Not having time to catch his breath, he started to run and think about what he was going to do next.

He didn't want to kill the girl Faith, because he didn't pick up anything demonic about her. Quite the contrary he didn't pick up anything but good vibes about her, almost the way he used to feel when he was around Buffy.

'Buffy.' he suddenly thought to himself. Picking up his pace he headed towards her house. Seeing that the coast was clear, as her house came into view, he ran up to it and knocked on the door. After only a few seconds a friendly face opened the door and looked at him in confusion.

"Xander?" Joyce asked, startled. Looking at her closely, he saw that just by watching him that she clutched a small silver cross. "What are you doing here? Buffy told me that you were..."

"Dead?" he finished for her. "Believe me sometimes I wished I had." he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Is...is Buffy here?"

"No. I think she's at the school."

"Mom, I thought I heard voices?" a little voice asked. Coming down the stairs, Dawn eyes widened. "Xander? Xander!" she yelled out as she launched herself into his arms.

Xander knew that it was Dawn and could feel that it was her, but looking at her now there was just something different. Using his ability to reach out and sense anothers powers, he looked down at her again and saw that a green aura surrounded her body.

"Xander what's wrong?" Dawn asked, looking up at him with innocent eyes.

"Nothing...nothing's wrong Dawn patrol."

"Well come on in." she said as she grabbed his arm and led him into the house. Horrified, Joyce followed them in and picked up a crossbow that sat by the door.

"Now, I don't know what kinda icky thing you are, but I want you out of my house now." Joyce said, even as her hand trembled.

"Mom?"

"Go up stairs, Dawn." Joyce replied, her eyes never leaving Xander's.

"But mom..."

"Just go!" With tears freely flowing down her face, Dawn ran upstairs. Now alone, Joyce turned all the way to Xander with a sneer on her face. "Buffy told me that evil things would come here, so her and her Watcher trained me to use this thing."

"Just calm down, Joyce."

"I will as soon as you get out." she replied unwavering. Without another word Xander quickly ran out of her house. Dropping the crossbow, Joyce fell to her knees in a fit of tears.

"Mom?" Dawn asked as she ran back down the stairs. Seeing her down on her knees Dawn went to her and they both held onto each other as they cried into each others shoulders.

* * *

'I can't believe this is happening.' Xander thought to himself as the highschool finally came into view. Ignoring the feelings of nostalgia, he suddenly felt someones presence behind him. Turning he was just in time to avoid a sword chop that would've taken his head. Putting a hand on the pommel of his sword, he stood back and watched as Faith came out of the shadows.

"Stop dodging yo." Faith said as she readied another attack. "You'll make this alot easier on yourself."

"For the last time, I'm not your enemy."

"Ask me how, much I really care." Faith said as she ran forward. Quickly unsheathing his own sword, he waited until she ran past him and slashed out. Stopping her run, she looked down at her broadsword and saw that it was cut in half. "Fuck."

Not waiting for him to do the same to her, she dropped the broken sword and somersaulted through the air bringing down a punch towards Xander's head. Seeing the attack coming, Xander blocked the blow and snapped out a kick of his own. Faith knocked the kick away and moved quickly forward with rainbow kick that slammed against the back of his neck. Not having time to spit out some blood that was forming in the back of his throat, Xander was again forced back as she lunged forward, swinging both her hands towards his head as if to crush it. Holding his arms out to block the blow, Faith used her superior strength and pressed their arms against each other. Pressing the advantage she sidestepped, catching him off guard and knocked his arms away, before following up with a spinning heel kick that slammed against his chest knocking him to the ground.

"Looks like our little dance is over." Faith said, suddenly standing over him with the broken piece of her sword. Lifting it up over her head she cocked a smile. "Thanks for the memories."

"Parker...Dickie, Bob come the hell on!" they both heard someone yell out. Looking up towards the school they saw a teen around their age, along with what looked like three zombies running like hell away from the school building.

"Jack?" Xander asked himself as he noticed who the boy was. 'Why the hell was he here?' As soon as he had that thought a huge explosion went off and the school went up in a ball of flames. As the fire roared into the night the only thing Xander could think at the moment was that he lost Buffy all over again.


	4. Chapter 3 The Four

A/N Thanks for all of the great reviews earlier and sorry for taking so long to update. I have to warn you that from this point on there will be some character death.

Chapter 3

The Four

For a moment, that felt more like centuries, Xander stared at the burning building, unmoving. He had come back from hell itself for the girl of his dreams, only to possibly lose her again. Finally coming to his senses, he looked up and saw Faith with her mouth open in a wide O. Taking advantage of her shock, he kicked his leg up knocking the sword out of her hand, before kipping back up to his feet. Tapping into his limited dark magick, he spread his hand forward and sent out a powerful red shockwave that took her off of her feet.

Seeing that she was out of it, he turned and ran for the school. Covering his mouth and nose with his hand he was prepared to jump through an opening, until the ceiling crumbled and collapsed, covering his entrance.

"Got damn it!" he screamed to himself as he stared at the fiery wall. Touching it with his right hand, a sudden feeling of something he couldn't describe came over him. Nearly falling off of his feet from the feeling, he suddenly righted himself and looked down by the other end of the burning school. Running to where this new instinct told him, he saw another huge hole that had been blown through from the explosion.

Not wasting time he jumped though and as he walked through the burning building more glass broke and wood splintered, behind him. Turning his slight jog into a run, he ran towards the library and past a group of lockers. Looking down at the fire around him, he noticed that it seemed to bend and flex as he walked past them. Bumping into someone, he looked up and touched the pommel of his sword as he saw three beings in front of him. The one in the front was wearing a red robe and carrying a grand broad sword along with a steel chain that he was using as a leash for a giant werewolf looking demon. The second one was wearing an all black robe carrying what he assumed was a baby wrapped up in a white blanket and the last one was wearing a sickly yellow robe and was carrying a sickle. As he tried to look under the hoods of their robes, he saw nothing but darkness.

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled over the roaring fire. Feeling something dangerous about these beings, he tightened his grip on his sword.

"We are The Four." the one wearing the black said in a gravely low, woman's voice.

"I hate to embarrass you lady." Xander said as he started to look around. "But theres only three of you."

"That's because this is the forth member, Alexander." the woman spoke again indicating the baby and making the hair on the back of his neck rise.

'How the hell does she know who I am?' he thought to himself. 'And why is it, that I feel like I know them?'

"But only the one who sees is meant to see him." she went on, interrupting his thoughts. "Would you care to take a gander?" she asked holding the baby forward. Even though he knew he didn't have much time, before the building collapsed, he still craved to see what was under the blanket. As he was about to reach out and remove the blanket he suddenly heard someone scream out. Not just anyone it was...

"Buffy." Xander whispered. Running past The Four and the eerily quiet and obedient beast, he ran into what was left of the library. Flames licked the wall and black smoke nearly engulfed him as he ran in and saw that the place was nearly finished burning to a crisp. Seeing nothing but bodies, both human and demon thrown about the floor, he was about to grab someone and take them out when the support beams behind him collapsed blocking his only way out.

"Fuck!" he yelled aloud as more smoke got into his lungs. This place, earth, was nothing like hell. There was no magic to help keep him alive around fire. "Is it too much to ask for a miracle?" he asked looking up at the heavens. As he yelled that his sword started to pulse. Speaking to him telepathically, Xander looked to a far wall that was untouched by the flames and he drew his sword.

"Angelic Aftermath!" he screamed as he swung the blade to the ground. Powerful energy whipped out of it and smashed into the wall, blowing a huge hole through it. Not having time to pick and choose, he grabbed the first body he was next too and started to drag them out of the school. Looking down he saw that it was Willow. With a smile on his face, he turned and saw Faith standing in front of him. Not saying a word, she turned and ran into the building to help him gather up the others.

The Bronze

Sametime

The group known as The Four walked through the parking lot of the Bronze slowly but with purpose. Ignoring the teenagers that teemed about, the leader of the group wearing red glanced at the doorman they walked up on and smiled, even as his new pet, which he used magic on to keep it in it's demonic form, growled angrily beside him.

"Hey!" the doorman yelled as they tried to walk past him. "That's five bucks from each of you and no dogs are allowed."

Looking back at the one with the deathly pale yellow robe, the leader nodded his head. Reaching up the doorman tried to back away as he saw the skeletal hands of the one with the yellow robe. To late, he put two bony fingers on the man's forehead and watched amused as the whites of his eyes turned jet black and his body started to shrink and crack. After only a few seconds the man was nothing more then a hollow deathly pale husk and like dust he blew away as a strong gust of wind blew him away.

Leading the way into the full music blaring club, Red robe took off the chain of his pet werewolf Oz, before leaning down to speak to it.

"Go. Play." he rasped as he unleashed the demon on the unsuspecting teens. Like an obedient dog, the lycan got up on all fours and ran into a crowd like a rapid animal. Reaching out with his powers Red robe sealed all the doors so they wouldn't get out. Nodding his head to the others, they disappeared into thin air, even as he smiled at the first of the humans screams.

* * *

Feeling gentle, yet strong hands holding her, Buffy smiled in her unconsciousness. That was until she felt her body being put down on something soft and wet. Something that felt like grass. Slowly forcing her eyes open and coughing up smoke, she looked up and saw a pair of liquid brown eyes, she hadn't seen in months.

"Xander?" she asked as she tried to sit up. Before she could ask him anything else, the school itself started to collapse on itself.

"Oz?" a voice asked weakly. Looking back he saw Willow bolt up and look around frantically.

"Take it easy, Red." Faith said trying to hold her down. "There ain't nobody else in there."

"Xander?" Buffy asked again as she successfully sat up. "I can't believe this. Where did you...how did you..."

"I'll explain later." he said looking down and then growling as he saw one of the men he had helped out of the building. Sitting up Angel stared wide eyed, back at him. "You!"

"Xander? Xander what the hell..."

"How in the hell did you get back to earth deadboy?" Xander asked as he lifted Angel up off of his by the scruff of his neck. "The last time I saw you, you were in hell with me."

"Get your hands off of me." Angel growled low in his throat.

"Make me."

"Xander let him go." Buffy said confused at their exchange. "Angel's good now."

"Good?" Xander asked with a bitter laugh, even though he did as she asked. "Buffy, I know I've been gone for a long time but the last time I saw him, he was killing our friends."

"But he's different now." Buffy said in an almost begging way for him to understand. "He has a soul."

"Hitler had a soul too, Buffy." he replied as he turned back to Angel. "But he still found time to sadistically murder people."

"That's highly unlikely." a very pompous, self important voice said. Looking behind Angel, Xander saw an older man wearing glasses and a nice suit. An older man that was definitely not Giles. "He sold his soul long ago and his body was inhabited by demons."

"We don't need a history lesson, Wussley." Faith told the Watcher, as she held up a crying Willow. "The cops are gonna be here any minute, I hear the sirens."

"Oz..." Willow cried out again as she lowered her head on Faith's shoulder.

"Oz." Xander mouthed to Faith.

"Boyfriend." she mouthed back.

"Maybe he ran away Willow." Xander tried to comfort her. "I didn't see anybody else in there."

"Well he's not a person right now." Willow informed him. "He's a werewolf."

"A were..." he stopped as he thought back to his encounter with the evil beings. 'Didn't they have a hairy demon chained up with them?'

"What is it?" she asked as she finally looked up and saw her friend. "Xander... when did you..."

"I'll explain later." Xander said hearing the sirens for himself. "Let's just get out of here."

As they made it to the parking lot they all went separate ways in different vehicles, each promising to meet up at Buffy's house later on. Buffy went with Angel in his car, Wesley drove alone, and Willow, Xander and Faith drove in Oz's van. The latter driving. She put the car in gear and slammed on the gas, burning some rubber in her hurry to get going.

"Willow I don't think you need to worry about, Oz." Xander said as he turned in his seat and looked back at his friend, who was curled up into a ball on the floor crying. "Well not right now anyway."

"What...what are you talking about?"

"I don't know all of what's going on but I saw some guys taking him." he said as his mind went back to the robed people he saw. "Don't worry, we'll get him back." he said as Faith took a corner without slowing down, and skidded around it. "That is if we make it in one piece." he went on as he looked over at Faith.

"I'm just to hear some tunes." Faith replied as she reached over, turned on the radio and began to turn the station dial. In the process she bent over too low to see over the dashboard. While changing stations, she didn't realize that she was pulling on the steering wheel, and the van made a wide left turn, but fortunately onto another road, and so they didn't hit anything.

"Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!" Xander shouted. He had just come back from hell and he wasn't anxious to go back.

"I missed you." Willow whispered into his ear as she sat up and hugged him from behind.

"I missed you too." Xander replied with a genuine smile as he turned to really look at her. She had cut her hair a little shorter, wore better clothes, and looking a little deeper he saw a small crackle of magick attached to her spirit. But through all that she was still his Willow.

"Now where have you been, buster?" she asked, feeling a little better because of his presence, and giving him her 'Resolve face'. "And I want the truth. Buffy told us you were dead."

"I'll tell you when we get to Buffy's house." he replied as he suddenly thought about something. "Hey where's Giles?" as he said that Willow had an even sadder look on her face then before.

Sunnydale Memorial Hospital

Moments Later

Stopping in front of the hospital Xander hanged his head low as he found out the cause of Giles being in a coma. After he and Angel had went to hell, Buffy was walking out of the crypt and had found the older man laying under a tree, unconscious and losing alot of blood. Using her Slayer strength she had managed to get him to the hospital in the knick of time before he died. Once he was stabilized the doctors told her that with the combination of blood loss and head trauma that he was in a coma. A coma where he might not ever wake up from. And that's why Xander held his head low now, because he knew that if he had taken the older man to the hospital he wouldn't be in the condition he was in now.

'But if I had taken him then Buffy wouldn't be alive.' he thought to himself. As the van screeched to a halt he was thrown out of his dark reverie, even as his head hit the dashboard. "Ow."

"Stop being a cry baby." Faith said as she slapped him on the arm. "We're here."

"Well I guess I can't take this in there with me." he said aloud as he put his sword in the back. As they all got out they took in the night and got a fresh smell of the stale air. Walking towards the building Xander suddenly stopped and looked off into the air.

"Xander what's wrong?" Willow asked as she looked back at him.

"Nothing." he replied giving her a fake smile. "You two go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Giving each other a look, Faith and Willow walked into the hospital. Once they were out of sight, he put a grim look on his face, before running towards the side of the building. Once there he looked around, before jumping fifteen feet in the air where he caught onto a drain pipe. Quickly he climbed it, as if it were a rope, until he reached the top of the building. Climbing over the edge of the building and standing to his feet, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness and he saw a figure with his back turned to him, crouched over the edge of the building.

"How does it feel to be back home?" the friendly voice asked, causing Xander to drop his guard and smile.

"It's a lot less hot." Xander joked, as he walked over to his friend and sat down beside him. "What are you doing here?"

"Unfortunately to be the bearer of bad news again." Natas told him. "The Apocalypse is coming."

"Another one." Xander joked. "Man you'd think the bad guys would've found something else to do by now."

"Now isn't the time to joke knight. I didn't mean that it was a apocalypse, I meant that it was THE apocalypse."

"You mean fire and brimstone?" he asked as the angel nodded. "So those guys I met are really..."

"The Four Horsemen." the angel finished for him. "Death, Desolation, and War are already here."

"What about the fourth member?" Xander asked as he stood to his feet and started to pace.

"The anti-christ." Natas replied in distaste. "He too is here. Hiding...waiting to strike. Be quick in visiting your friend. Time is short and you must prepare for war."

"How did you know about, Giles?" Xander asked as Natas smiled back at him.

"I'm an angel remember." and with that he jumped off the side of the roof, spreading his wings out widely. Looking to where he jumped, Xander saw that his friend was already gone.

Easily finding Giles' room Xander walked in and saw Faith and Willow already waiting for him. But even all the time he had spent in hell didn't prepare him for what he was now seeing. Giles was hooked up to monitoring machines that beeped to tell the condition of his heart. And even though he had only been gone for a short time the Watcher had seemed to age almost ten years. He was just so broken and fragile looking. Even though he had been through many torcher devices himself, he couldn't fathom what Giles was going through. And yet what was worse, Xander knew that it was his fault for causing Giles this pain.

As he stood there reminiscing about all the adventures and all the advice the older man had given in the short time he had known him, he failed to hear the first of many screams. Coming out of yet another reverie he turned and saw Faith running out of the room.

"Will's stay here." he ordered as he ran out of the room behind the dark haired Slayer. Seeing alot of nurses, patients, and doctors running for their lives, Faith grabbed one to get an explanation.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" she asked the terrified woman nurse.

"There's something in the children's wing!" she yelled hysterically. "It's killing them and it's coming this way." squirming out of Faith's grasp the older woman ran down the hall to join the others. Angered that somebody or something was hurting children Faith ran down the opposite end.

"Faith wait!" Xander shouted as he ran up behind her. Using his senses he picked up the same demonic aura he felt earlier that night when he had faced the Four. Knowing that it was them he increased his speed, but came to a screeching halt when he turned the corner. Right in front of him Faith stood in awe at the yellow robed, sickle carrying demon further down the hallway. It had it's hands outstretched towards the walls and Xander could tell that each time he passed a door that the occupant of the room died instantly.

'Death' he thought to himself.

"Yo, ugly!" Faith said pointing at him. "You the one killing off all those kids?" she asked only being greeted back with muted silence. "Of course you are." running forward she prepared to throw a punch at her adversary only for her fist to go numb. Looking down at it she saw that it started to blister and turn an unearthly shade of grey. "What the fuc..." before she could finish her curse a gust of wind past her at blinding speed and the next thing she knew was that the demon was laying on his back and Xander was suddenly at her side with his foot outstretched.

"Faith go back get as many people as you can, Giles, and Willow and get the hell out of here." he said calmly as he looked back to see the thing getting back to it's feet.

"But..."

"No but's, just go." he told her, giving her a little push. "I'll hold him off long enough for you guys to get out." seeing the worried look on her face he added. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

Not knowing fully why she ran, because she had never run from a fight before, Faith started to run down the hallway. Chancing another glance over her shoulder she saw Xander getting into a defensive pose ready to fight.

'Damn I left my sword.' Xander thought to himself as he instinctively reached for it. 'I guess I'll just have to stall.' "So it's just me and you Bones." Xander joked as Death stood up, his hood being thrown back, exposing his skeletal head. Maggots and snakes slither out where his eyes were supposed to be and if Xander hadn't of spent several hundred years in hell he would have been severely freaked out. "Let's do this."

Running with demonic speed Xander went into a rainbow kick, which Death somehow seemed to slide under. Changing tactics he went into a quick series of rapid fire punches only for Death to block every blow before grabbing his hands in a surprisingly tight grip.

"You aren't mad that I called you Bones are you?" Xander asked with a wince, as the eyeless sockets stared blankly at him. As if to answer his question Death suddenly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off of his feet. With effortless strength the age old demon hurled Xander out of the nearest window. Not caring or feeling the glass beneath him Death tossed his hood back up and continued to walk down the hall to finish his massacre.

* * *

"Red, we gotta scram!" Faith yelled as she charged into the room.

"What...what's going on?" Willow asked nervously. "Where's Xander and...and what happened to your hand."

"I ain't got time to explain." Faith replied hurriedly as she started to unhook anything she could from Giles' body. "Just help me unhook the G-man so we can get him outside." seeing that Faith was spooked by something the wiccan decided not to say anything and assisted her with what she was doing. Wheeling the whole bed out, Willow grabbed Giles' glasses off a nearby nightstand and headed outside after her friend.

"Don't you think it's going to be a tight squeeze inside Oz's van?" Willow asked looking up to Faith.

"Forget about the van, we're gonna steal us an ambulance." before Willow could argue about leaving her boyfriend's vehicle behind they both heard the sound of glass breaking. Looking back just in time they saw Xander fall face first onto the top of the van, crushing the roof down like a pancake.

"The ambulance it is." Faith said with raised eyebrows, even as she and Willow ran up to Xander as he rolled slowly off of the van, barely keeping his balance.

"Did anybody get the license plate of the truck that hit me?" he asked woozily as he wobbled around a bit.

"Xander are you, okay?" Willow asked, as she put a hand on his shoulder to help stabilize him.

"Never better." he replied as he spat out a glob of blood.

"I thought you had everything under control stud?" Faith asked as Xander reached through the broken van and pulled out his sword.

"I did until..." before he could make a witty remark the front of the hospital exploded in a shower of brick and glass. Looking back as the dust started to settle, they saw Death strolling out calmly with his sickle.

"Xander..."

"Let's get the hell out of here!" he yelled as he grabbed Willow's hand. Quickly putting Giles in the back of the nearest ambulance they drove off into the night, sirens blaring, leaving Death to stare off at them.

* * *

"Angel you haven't said anything since we left the school." Buffy commented as he stopped his car in front of her house. Looking at her slightly shaken up, he looked back out into the street.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say."

"How about, 'Hey Buffy your best friend is back from hell. How do you feel about that.' " Buffy started. "I mean I know hell couldn't have been a picnic but..."

"You have no idea." Angel replied quietly.

"Look, if you need to talk."

"That's just it, Buffy I don't want to talk about it." Angel nearly screamed as he shrugged off her touch. "You're at home now. I have to get a few things from my house, but I'll be back in a few for the meeting." wordlessly Buffy got out of Angel's car, shocked because of his outburst of anger, and closed the door. Watching as his car quickly sped off into the night, Buffy held her head down low.

"The story of my life." she said aloud as she kicked a can before walking into her house. "Hey, Mom." she turned to call up the stairs, putting down her jacket. She then frowned and looked down the hall toward the kitchen. Something didn't seem right. "Mom?" she called again as she heard something upstairs. Feeling a little silly for being scared she started to walk upstairs and down the hall. "You and Dawn aren't trying to scare me again are you?" she asked as she walked into Joyce's bedroom to see her mom, with Dawn laid out on her stomach, laying on the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she took a closer look at Joyce. Her eyes were open, staring sightlessly at the ceiling as one of her arms hung loosely over the edge of the bed. Looking into her sisters eyes she saw that they too were blank and her chest didn't move up and down like it should. "Mom? Dawn?" Buffy asked quietly as she moved closer into the room.

Not getting an answer she rushed over and began shaking Joyce and then her sister by the shoulders.

"Mom! Mom! Mommy..." she repeated the word many times and then shouted it in Joyce's face, getting no reaction. Seeing that both of their skins were deathly pale Buffy knew that they were dead. Suddenly she fell to her knees and vomited on the floor. A small giggle sounded into the room over the retching noises of her throwing up. Looking up from her position by the doorway, Buffy saw a black robed figure, carrying a baby walking out of her moms closet.

"Hello Slayer." Desolation said with a cackle as her grotesque, burn-scarred face erupted in a blast of blazing hellfire.

Her Slayer instincts taking over Buffy scrambled to her feet and tore out of the room, narrowly avoiding Desolation's flamed attack. Trying to get a weapon, from her secret hiding place under a hallway table, another fireball flew by her head narrowly missing her but destroying the table.

Walking slowly out of the room Buffy got back to her feet, even as the demon swatted at her with razor sharp nails, edging her back onto the landing at the top of the stairs.

"I'll kill you for what you did to my family." Buffy said as she wiped some tears from her eyes and got into a defensive stance. With a smile on her greyish and charred lips, Desolation swatted at Buffy again and even though she ducked, she lost her balance and tumbled violently down the stairs.

Laying crumbled at the bottom of the stairs, cowering in fear, Buffy could only watch helplessly as the female demon slowly walked down the stairs, cackling menacingly. Seeing that Buffy was trying to get to her feet Desolation reached under it's robe and hurled a charred, flaming skull at her. The skull screamed forward, missing Buffy's face by inches, then it inexplicably changed course and flew back up the stairs, disappearing into her dark advancing silhouette.

"Your family was simple to kill as you will be." the demon rasped out as it lifted up a foot to squish Buffy's head. "Consider yourself a farewell message to the, Knight." before she could lower her foot on Buffy's soft head the door to the house were suddenly flown open. To Desolation's surprise and delight the one it mostly wanted to see strolled into the room.

"Buffy?" Xander asked as he looked from her to the demon. "You!"

"You've finally arrived." Desolation screeched happily. "Now the fourth will come forth. Feast your eyes on this babe and you will finally know who is the anti-christ." she said as she threw the baby in Xander's direction. By instinct he caught it and cradled it in his arms, just as Faith walked into the room.

"What the..." was all Faith said as she attempted to go after the demon, who turned and ran upstairs. Jumping over the still downed form of Buffy, Faith ran upstairs and let out a shout at what she found upstairs. Not only was the demon gone but Joyce and the squirt lay motionless on the bed together, dead.

Ignoring Faith's shout, compelled like he was before to see the baby, Xander threw back it's cover and saw that it wasn't a baby at all, but rather a white hand mirror. Looking at his reflection in it it suddenly occured to him why he felt like he knew the Four horsemen, why Death didn't turn him into ashes, and why he was compelled to see this so called baby. It was because he was one of them.

"I'm the anti-christ." he whispered to himself as he fell to his knees, drowning out the sounds of Buffy crying and Faith's shouting.

Angel's Apartment

Sametime

Taking off his jacket Angel angrily flung it onto his coffee table. 'When would Buffy understand that theres just somethings I don't wanna talk about.' he thought to himself. He hated to lie to her about why he was going home, but he just needed time to think.

Suddenly feeling a demonic presence in the room, he looked up just in time to be knocked violently down to the ground. Managing to look up at his attacker, that was still holding him down he saw that it was the still in werewolf form of Oz. Feeling something else in the room he looked up to see a red robed demon standing over them.

"Just another soldier in the war." War mumbled more to himself as he put his hand down on Angel's chest. Feeling a burning sensation the vampire started to scream even as his soul started to leave his body.


	5. Chapter 4 Evil's At Your Door

A/N Sorry for the super long wait on the update of this story. This is going to deal a little with spiritual beliefs so don't take this too seriously, it's just a story. Enjoy.

Chapter 4

Evil's At Your Door

Mayor's Office

Mayor Wilkins sat at his desk reading some important documents. Reaching out with his limited magical powers, he could tell that there was something old and powerful in Sunnydale. But it wasn't something that was going to keep him from what was important. Like reading his funnies. Hearing the door open and feeling a vampiric presense he finished reading the Family Circus comic strip before regarding his minion.

"So Mr. Trick, what do you have to report?" he asked as he looked up to see that it wasn't him. "You, you're not Trick."

"That's very observant of you, sir." Angelus replied as he picked up a letter opener and dragged it across the desk surface. With a wiry smile he started prowling around the office. "I guess that's why you're the boss."

"You're darn right young man." Wilkins replied with a hearty chuckle. "I am the boss and I don't know where my security is but..."

"Oh don't worry about them, they're already dead." Angelus informed him as he reached behind himself and threw a severed head on his desk. "Including that deputy Mayor of yours...ohhh he was the screamer."

"Ohhhh, get that off of my desk." Wilkins started as he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "Do you have any idea how many germs are on that thing?"

"Too bad we'll never find out." Angelus said as he threw the blade at the Mayor's chest. As it embedded itself through his heart, his last fleeting thought was that he should've did the spell that would have made him invincible just a little sooner.

Summers Residence

Same Time

Finally coming to his senses Xander looked around the living room and saw Buffy, with her head on Willow's lap, sitting on the couch crying softly to herself as the red head stroked her hair. Hearing the door open he saw Faith, now wearing black leather gloves, and the man she had called Wesley walk into the house with shovels and dirty clothes.

"It's about time you snapped out of your dream, stud." Faith commented as she dusted off her pants leg. She and Wesley had just got done burying Joyce and Dawn in the backyard and even though she didn't show it she wanted to cry even harder then Buffy was right now. Every since she had come to Sunnydale trying to escape Kakistos, Joyce had taken her in as if she was her own daughter. After some talking to from the blond haired Slayer of course.

But never the less Joyce treated her like she was her own kid. She was nothing like the bitch of a ma she had before, she was everything that she ever dreamed a real mom would be. Even down to the motherly smell. But now she was gone.

_And so is little D. _She allowed her mind to wonder to Dawn. _The little squirt was a pain in the ass sometimes...well all the time but in the short few months that I knew her... _not letting her emotions get the better of her Faith started to think of something...anything that wouldn't make her cry.

And that was something else that she found strange. Growing up, with a drunk for a ma, she had always learned to hide and bury her feelings. But now all she wanted to do was run to the nearest person and cry onto their shoulders. She couldn't help but think that it was in due part to Buffy. After the two had killed Kakistos over the next couple of weeks Buffy had made her spill the beans about some of her past and what she was going through, which later led to the two of them living together at the Summers house.

"Yeah." Xander replied as he stood to his feet and walked over to where Buffy was. "Buffy, I'm sorry for what happened to your mom." he started off. But listening to his own voice it just sounded so hollow. So empty. "And to Dawn. I promise that we're gonna kill that thing for what's she's done."

"Where...where are you going?" she asked as he started to walk towards the door.

"I'm going to get my guide." but before he walked out of the house, he stopped off to check in on Giles. Stepping into the small hallway, he looked down at his form and gave the older man a soft sad little smile. Muttering another apology, he turned around and bumped into Buffy and Faith's new Watcher.

"Alexander, I must have a word with you."

"Yeah," Xander started as he walked past him. "What about?"

"About what the bloody hell is going on?!" Wesley said angrily, his nerves frayed. "Faith told me that...that Death himself is roaming the earth and you fought him and lived. How do you explain that? You must know what's going on."

"I do." Xander whispered. "And like I said I'll explain everything when I get back." as he said that someone knocked gently on the front door. Instinctively going for his sword, he and the Watcher slowly walked towards the door and after giving each other a nod opened it, to reveal who he was about to go out looking for.

"So is this the new way that people are greeted on earth now?" Alayah asked as she moved Xander's blade away from her face.

"What are you doing here?" Xander asked as his Angel walked past him and closed the door. "And how did you know where to find me?"

"I wouldn't be a very good guide if I didn't know where you were." she replied with a smile.

"Who the hell are you?" Faith asked angrily as she walked into the room.

"Down girl, I'm a friend." Alayah said with a cocksure smile. Seeing that Faith didn't like that answer and that she was going to punch the new girl in the face, Xander decided to step in between them.

"Easy Faith she's...my angel." he said thinking of how cliche that sounded.

"Here maybe this'll help." Alayah replied, as the back of her shirt started to tear. With a soft scream of agony, the group watched as two huge white angelic wings appeared on her back. Without warning Buffy stood to her feet, ran the length of the room and started to pound her tiny fists into the angel's chest.

"Where the hell were you when I needed you?" she asked, as she broke down into tears and fell into Alayah's arms. Body racking with tears, Buffy again found herself laying on the couch, but with her head in the angel's lap. As her sobs started to go away, she found that the higher being was stroking her hair gently.

'How the hell did, I get here?' Buffy thought to herself. 'It doesn't matter now.' she decided. 'I feel at peace.'

"It's time for all of you to finally know what's going on." Alayah started as she continued to comfort Buffy. "I think it's fitting that I start from the beginning. The world is older then you all know..."

"We've already heard that story before." Wesley interrupted. "And I've told it numerous times."

"Yes, but what you don't know is that the first demons on earth weren't actually demons. They were angels."

"The...the Heavenly Host?" Wesley asked with wide eyes.

"Exactly..."

"Ummmm, for those of us that aren't bible crazy...what the hell are you people talking about?" Faith asked, as Willow and Xander nodded their agreement.

"It's a long story, but I'll try to make it short." Alayah replied with a sigh. "When God came down from heaven to form earth he left his right hand man Lucifer in charge of heaven. After eavesdropping on God, Lucifer found out that God was only creating earth so he could send him down to it to protect the humans he had made and to glorify his name. Angered because he didn't like the fact that he was going to be used like that Lucifer banded together and started to destroy everything that was heavenly. When God came back to heaven and saw it in shambles, he banished Lucifer and a third of the Angel's, Seraph's, and the Cherub's in heaven, to Earth."

"But what about Adam and Eve. Didn't God care about them? I mean why would he put those evil angels down there with..." Willow started to babble out as Alayah raised a hand to silence her.

"Yes, of course God loved Adam and Eve. That's why they were in the garden of Eden. It was constructed to keep the fallen one's out and away from humanity while God made a prison for all of those to be damned. Time also had little meaning in Eden so years passed on the outside of it, where it would've seemed like hours and days to them." Alayah went on. "Even though the fallen had limited power on earth Lucifer found out a way to communicate with Eve through using a serpent. He had been spying on Adam and Eve for years and he found that Adam truly loved Eve and would follow up behind her. He also found that God kept the portal that would lead him back to Heaven in the garden, in the form of a tree. He put it their so the other Angel's in Heaven wouldn't try to show mercy on Satan and help him come back to Heaven. Knowing this Satan used his powers to put a spell on the fruit of that tree and kept talking and manipulating Eve until one day she ate it."

"And in turn Adam ate it himself." Wesley concluded.

"Yes, Lucifer wanted them to band together so that they would open up the gates of Eden and allow them to have full control. But what he wasn't counting on was God coming back so soon. When he found out what Lucifer had done, he bound him with chains and sent him to hell. As for the rest of the fallen, he stripped them of their beauty and twisted their image to suit the hatred in their hearts."

"Which led to the first of the demons appearing." Wesley questioned. "And if the history lesson I was given about that era of time is correct as for Adam and Eve I speculate that God banned them from the Garden of Eden and stayed away, even as mankind became enslaved by the newly created demons." seeing that the angel was becoming annoyed by his talking of the Lord, Wesley quickly continued. "However when mankind's number grew they over threw their demon masters and if I understand correctly God never interfered with mankinds development again, except for key events that had to happen. And if I am correct dinosaurs were also forms of demons." before Alayah could deny or confirm what Wesley had said there was a sudden knock at the door.

Everyone in the room, jumped at the sudden noise, even Xander of whom didn't know he was holding his breath. Steeling his calm he looked to the others before opening the door.

"You." Xander grumbled, as Angel stood on the opposite end of the door. "What the hell are you doing here?" before he could reply Buffy ran past her best friend and into the arms of her lover.

"What's wrong?" Angel asked giving the petite blond a hug. "Can I come in?"

'What the hell is he asking permission to come in for?' Xander thought to himself as Buffy invited him in. Giving him an even closer look Xander felt a sense of dread, because something wasn't right.

As she filled Angel in on what happened, he in turn told them that on the way over, he saw the Mayor crucified on the clock tower in downtown Sunnydale. As all of them sat in uncomfortable silence Xander stood to his feet and started to tell them about his time in hell and the trials he had to endure. When he told them about his sword Wesley being the Watcher he was took it upstairs and started to examine the markings on it. Before he could get too far into the story they all took a long whiff of something rotten that now hung in the air. It was like the combination of rotten meat and shit.

"God." Buffy started as she put part of her shirt over her mouth and nose, struggling not to gag. "What's that smell?"

"Something dead." Angel whispered as something big crashed through the front window. Looking up as one, the gang stared wide eyed up at the zombie corpse of Joyce Summers. Her...it's eye sockets were pouring out blood and her mouth was twisted in the most awful sneer any of them had ever seen. As she stepped off of the couch, they saw a little pair of hands reaching through the glass before finally climbing into the room.

"Dawn?" Buffy asked as Angel stepped out in front of her.

"Faith get Willow and Buffy upstairs." he ordered as the zombies started to slowly advance towards them. "She doesn't need to see this."

Fighting against her instincts to stay and fight for the second time that night Faith grabbed, the stunned Slayer's hand and started to take her upstairs, Willow following meekly behind.

"Finally we can have some alone time..." Angel said, slipping into his vampiric visage and turned to look at Xander. "Knight." as zombie Joyce and Dawn advanced they completely ignored Angel and walked past him, heading directly towards Xander..

"What the..." Xander yelped out as both Summer's women grabbed him on either side of his arm. And with supernatural strength brought him down to his knees.

"You know I really wanted to kill you." Angelus said, stalking dangerously close in front of Xander. "But the people downstairs just want your soul." as he said that he took out a chrystal ball like object. Looking at it closer Xander saw that it was an orb of Thesulah.

* * *

As Faith, Buffy, and Willow walked upstairs, they were about to pass Dawn's room until they heard someone violently gagging. Giving each other a look Faith slowly opened the door and stared wide eyed at Alayah of whom had Wesley pinned up against a wall, feet dangling with her hand around his neck in a vice grip. 

"What the fuck!" Faith screamed as she kicked the door all the way open. Glancing over her shoulder, Alayah snapped Wesley's neck like a twig, before turning around with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Watcher's... always sticking their noses in affairs that aren't their own. I mean I couldn't let him find out about that sword. Oh and just a word of advice, kiddo." she started sounding much older then she appeared, as she looked at Buffy and winked. "Be careful who you let in your house next time. You might let somebody evil in."

"Son of a..." running forward Faith threw a punch that the angel ducked under with little effort. Grabbing her by both arms, Alayah brought Faith closer, gave her a head butt and slung her across the room, knocking her unconscious. Eyes flashing red she was about to walk up to Buffy, when Willow stepped into her path mumbling an incantation under her breath.

"Pathetic." Alayah said with a smile as she used a finger to hit the young witch in the forehead, effectively knocking her out. Before she could take another step she felt a pair of hands locking onto her legs. Looking down she saw Faith desperately clutching onto her foot. She was about to crush the Slayer's pretty little head until she smiled up at her.

With wide eyes she turned around just in time to block Buffy's backhand punch. Kicking out of Faith's grasp Alayah followed through with a roundkick hitting Buffy in the face. She tried to slam a knee into her midsection but Buffy blocked that, countering with an inward crescent kick, sending the dark Angel against the vanity.

"Hey B," Faith called out as she grabbed the surprised Alayah from behind and pulled her out into the hallway. "Let's kick this old school." As Buffy walked out into the hall, she was just in time to see Faith slam their betrayers face into a closed door hard.

_When she said she was gonna kick it old school she wasn't kidding. _Buffy thought to herself as she jumped into the fray.

Faith faced her opponent just in time to block a backhand fist just as Buffy grabbed that arm and sent her other fist into Alayah's side, then up in a backhand to her face, in quick succession. Digging deep into her Slayer strength she swung her across the hall slamming her face first into the wall by the open stairwell. Trying to recover, Alayah raised a knee to stop Buffy's mid-level roundkick, then grabbed her by the shoulders. They struggled with each other, both of them slamming into the closed door, then rebounding across the hall falling into the stairwell where they took an unpleasant slide headfirst down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, in the foyer, they rolled away from each other and come up in fighting stances, just as Faith ran down the stairs.

Taking Buffy's place Faith launched an attack but Alayah blocked her strikes, countering with a right hook. Seeing it coming, Faith ducked before attacking again, this time hitting the Angel with several punches to the stomach and head. Using her own speed Alayah managed to catch her arm on the last punch and slam Faith back against the dining room wall. Running up to her she got extremely close and whispered in the other girl's ear.

"This fight is between me and the other Slayer, little one." Alayah said with a smile that quickly turned into a scowl. "It's about time for you to take a leap of faith!" and with that said she tossed Faith like a rag doll sending her crashing out of the window.

"Faith!" Buffy yelled out as Alayah threw a fist straight at her head. Reflexes kicking in, she ducked at the last instant and watched as the other girls fist went through the wall. Taking advantage of the temporary distraction Buffy threw herself at Alayah driving her further into the dining room and sending her across the surface of the table, clearing it of the candles and glass bowl of wax fruit, and knocking down chairs as she fell off the other side.

"You bitch, I just got this body!" she screamed as she pulled herself up holding onto the silverware cabinet. Enraged, she grabbed a large flower vase and threw it. It hit Buffy on the side and shattered but left her unharmed. Pulling out one of the drawers, she dumped all the silverware to the floor and swung it to throw it at Buffy. As Buffy ducked the flying drawer, Alayah snatched up a long two-pronged fork and attacked her. Buffy dodged the strikes and shoved her against the table, even as her opponent swung the fork at her face. The blonde ducked away and it buried itself in the wall. Before she could pull it out, Buffy grabbed her from behind, swung her around, and slammed her against the table again. With a growl she quickly hit Buffy in the face with a back elbow freeing herself.

"Oh this is gonna be a long fight." Alayah said as she charged at Buffy.

* * *

"What's wrong hero?" Angelus mocked as he slowly walked around Xander, who was shivering on the floor, his soul still being slowly sucked out by the orb of Thesulah. Joyce and Dawn had let him go because he was to weak to try to put up a fight. "You look tired." 

"Nnnooo." Xander managed to get out as he rolled over onto his back. "I'm... I'm just tired of smelling your bad breath. I can smell it from all the way down here." he commented earning him a kick in the ribs from his nemesis.

"After all those years in hell, you're still the same old Xander." Angelus replied as he continued his pacing. "You still tell your funny little jokes and continue to be a pain in my ass."

"Yeah." Xander replied as a thin line of blood dribbled out of his mouth. "Good times hey buddy?" he replied receiving another kick in the ribs.

"Aye... good times."

"What I don't... don't understand is why you're here?" Xander asked weakly.

"What was that?" the demon asked, pretending not to hear. "Did you just ask me why, I'm here? Well I thought it was obvious. I'm kicking your ass."

"I saw you on... on our little hell ride together." Xander replied. "How the hell did you get back here?"

"Let's just say that I have friends in... rather low places." Angelus went on as his foot hit the orb, throwing off it's effect on Xander. Taking the opening Xander got to his knees and pumped both of his fists together, forming a star shaped symbol on the back of his hands.

"Demon, I command you to leave this place!" as he shouted that out, a strong flash of light filled the room, making zombie Joyce and Dawn crumble into dust and for the briefest of seconds exposing Angelus' true demonic form. Letting out a horrible scream, the former scourge of europe, jumped out of the already broken window disappearing into the night. "Oh, God." Xander said panting as he lost his balance.

As he was about to fall flat on his face, a pair of strong arms caught him.

* * *

_I'm so gonna kick that bitch's ass._ Was Faith's first coherent thought as she came too. As she was about to sit up from where she landed on the ground she suddenly looked up and saw five figures surrounding her. "What the fuck." she yelled out as two of the black cloaked figures grabbed either side of her arms. 

"Take her away." War ordered of two of Death's Acolytes, Pain and Despair. Looking from Death to Desolation, they stood still as he walked towards the house.

* * *

"Angelus... Angelus is back." Xander said as his head lolled in Buffy's lap.

"What?" Buffy asked, with wide eyes. "But..."

"Is everybody, okay?" Willow asked as she slowly walked into the room, carrying Xander's sword. "Because my heads still spinning."

"We...we're okay, Willow." Buffy replied with tears glistening in her eyes.

"What happened to little miss 'I'm really a bad Angel'?"

"I...I kicked her butt and she flew out of the window." Buffy answered as she gave Xander a look, that seemed to say that she'd explain later. Her memory jogged she suddenly stood to her feet.

"Buffy where are you going?" Willow asked.

"I've got to get, Faith." Buffy replied. She could feel that something was wrong. As she opened the door she gasped and took a step back.

"Buffy what's..." Willow stopped talking as she saw the red cloaked figure walk into the room. Upon seeing him Xander felt a surge of energy and sat up off of the floor.

"Willow give me my sword." with numb fingers she handed the deadly weapon over to her best friend and watched as he ran the length of the room, his sword held high, but stopping as he approached War.

"Xander what are you waiting for?" Buffy asked, as she saw that Xander seemed to be star struck. With a heavy sigh she attempted to throw a kick only for the red robed demon to turn his gaze on her. Feeling woozy she and Willow dropped down to one knee unable to move. Throwing back it's hood Buffy gasped as she saw that this thing had the same face as her Xander shaped friend.

Noticing the resemblance himself, Xander watched as the figure walked to him and handed him a scroll of paper. Taking the sword out of Xander's hand War turned around and calmly walked out of the front door. The spell wearing off, Buffy stood to her feet and eyed Xander wearily as he stared down at the paper. Before she could say anything she suddenly heard her sister Slayer screaming.

"Faith!" Buffy yelled as she ran to the door and looked out, only to see her being carried off by a robed figure. Death, Desolation, and War were on either side of her. "Faith!"

"B!" Faith yelled back as she kicked uselessly at the demon that was carrying her over it's shoulder. As Buffy attempted to run out to help her, a demon dropped out of the sky with a sickle and swung at her, nearly taking off her head. Dropping into a roll, she looked up just in time to see the demons disappear into the advancing night, Faith's screams echoing in their wake. With a menacing growl, the demon that attacked her sprinted off behind them.

"Damnit!" Buffy screamed in frustration as she stood to her feet and ran back into her house. As she ran in she saw that Xander was reading the piece of paper that, that thing had given him. "Xander what's going on?" she asked. Not getting an answer out of him, she suddenly slapped him on the face. "Xander snap out of this."

"I understand everything now, Buffy." he replied after a few moments. "I understand why I've been a fool all of this time. I understand now why I was fool enough to trust an Angel named Natas when I should've known that it was the devil. I also know why I'll never be a hero and why you'll never love me."

"Xander what are you talking about?" the blonde Slayer asked. "What's on that paper?"

"Proof of who I am." he replied, his eyes turning an inky black. "Proof that I am the 666. Proof that I am the Anti-christ... that the Beast will roam the Earth."

"Xander you're scaring me." Willow replied as she started to shake.

"You should be scared." he replied as he turned his gaze to her. "Can't you feel it? Can't you tell that this world is about to end."

And the second he said that, he got hit by some giant blast of energy which sent him flying back across the room and sending him sliding painfully along the floor. Finally coming to a stop, nose bleeding, Xander wiped it on his sleeve, stunned. He then looked ahead of himself, an incredulous expression crossing his face.

"We'll see about that." a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Hi daddy." Xander replied as the girls turned around to see Giles. But he wasn't sickly like they had seen him last. He looked to be in perfect health and was wearing an expensive looking white Armani suit, with matching white shoes, his glasses firmly in place.

"Giles?" Buffy asked in shock. But her Watcher just stood in place with a grim expression.

"Giles?" Willow tried. only to see that he wasn't responding to her either.

Xander sat up and wiped his bloody nose with his hand, looked at it, then wiped it again. His face then began to cover with dark veins, his eyes still black.

"You need to get out of here old man." Xander said trying to get up, somewhat shaky. "I'm not playing anymore."

"Neither am I. Stay down." Giles said as he gestured at him with one hand, making him fall back onto the floor, wincing.

"How'd you do that?" Willow asked. Still ignoring her, he stayed focused on his opponent.

"He got that power from the Father." Xander said with a laugh as he started to get up again, rising up to his feet without apparent effort.

"I said stay down." Giles said angrily making his gesture again but Xander made one of his own and blocked him.

"No, Sir. This Zeppo has a brand new bag." he said as Giles looked a little alarmed. Buffy looked wary and moved over to stand beside her father figure.

"Vincire!" Giles shouted out as green magic energy shot from Giles's hand and formed a band around Xander's torso, pinning his arms against his body. It glowed with a green light that made Xander's skin appear green too.

"This won't hold me forever old man." Xander warned as he started to squirm. "I'll get out."

"I'm aware of that. That's why I'm going to replace your seal." Giles said as he continued holding out his hand toward him. Suddenly Xander threw back her head and closed his eyes, apparently unconscious. His body floated up into the air and hovered about a foot off the ground. The band of magic held his changes to a more contained blue-grey color.

Willow and Buffy watched warily, even as the Slayer moved closer to Giles.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked nervously. "And where did you get that suit? Nice."

"I contained him and his powers within a binding field. It puts him in a kind of ... stasis for a time..." Giles explained, as he took a closer look at his charge and smiled. "And as for this suit... call it a gift from God."

"Giles we gotta tell you what's been going on." Buffy said worriedly. "The..."

"I already know." Giles cut her off. "I've seen everything in my time... up there." he said pointing up to the ceiling.

"So you're an..."

"Just for a short time." Giles told the red head as he looked back to his body that was still laying on the bed breathing steadily. "God has temporarily given my soul the power of an Angel. If we survive this fight I'm told that I get my body back." he explained as he took off his spectacles and cleaned them on his shirt. Before he could put them back on he was suddenly engulfed in a hug by Willow and Buffy. The latter whispering that she missed him, in his coat. "And I you."

"Wait... how do we know that you're the real Giles?" Buffy suddenly asked. With a roll of his eyes Giles whispered something into her ear. Something that only she would know.

"Giles, what made him freak out like that?" Willow asked, pulling away from him. "What was on that paper?" as she asked the question Giles opened his hand and in a flash the paper Xander was holding appeared in his hand.

"Oh dear."

"What is it?" Buffy asked as she looked over his shoulder and saw that it was a birth certificate. Not just any birth certificate, but Xander's. "What's so wierd about that?"

"Xander's real name is really, Xander." Giles answered, snatching the paper back. "And his middle name was actually a typo. It's Lavell and not Lavelle like we always assumed."

"So." she answered back, only for the man to stare at her blankly.

"Buffy there are six letters in each of Xander's names." more stares. "Buffy... 666... that's the mark of the Beast."

"Oh." she said grasping what he was saying. "Oh!"

"But that still doesn't explain why he freaked."

"He... freaked because his sword was taken away from him." the older man went on as he started to pace. "You see that sword actually belonged to Satan himself and as soon as Xander accepted it, a seal was placed on him that would keep his dark nature at bay until the End of days."

"So when that guy..."

"Yes, War. When War took his sword the seal was broken." Giles said in pondering. _But as for why he looked like Xander I have no earthly idea. Unless..._

1981

Sunnydale Hospital

Jessica Harris winced as both of her new born baby boys breast fed from her. She had spent nearly seven hours in labor and finally it was all over. Sensing a presence in her room, she looked up expecting her husband, only to find a young man with a dark robe staring at her.

"Can... can, I help you with something?" she asked, picking up bad vibes about the man.

"You've already helped enough, by bringing such precious gifts into the world." Natas replied walking into the room. "I'll just be taking one of them."

"What..." before Jessica could call out for help, the angel put his hand over her head.

"Sleep." he ordered as her eyes closed. "From this moment on, you will forget that you had two sons." he said even as he took the child that was on her left arm. As if in protest Xander cried out, because of the loss of his older brothers companionship. "Don't worry little one, I'll be back for you someday as well." turning to leave he performed a spell that destroyed all records of there ever being a Brendon Kelly Harris.

End Flashback

"But you said that you could put it back?" it was Buffy to ask, snapping him out of his reverie. "That seal thingy."

"Yes, I must find something to put it on." as he said that he reached through the field and took Xander's gun out of it's holster. Closing his eyes he began to pray over the weapon, even as a soft glow surrounded it. "It's too late Buffy. I fear that we are too late to save her."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Faith." Giles clarified, as he opened his eyes and looked at her, reading her mind. "I fear that she might be lost to us."

Before Buffy could shed a tear for her friend, she and everyone else, bowed down on one knee as an ear splitting sound tore through the night.

"Giles! Giles what is that?!" Buffy yelled out, partially covering her ears.

"It's Gabriel." Giles realized in horror, feeling every human, demon, and creature alike in the world bow down on one knee. "He's blowing his horn."

The Bronze

Sometime Later

Natas sat in his throne like chair smiling widely as Alayah and Despair walked in holding Faith inbetween them.

"Mmmm... you know atleast God got one thing right. He sure knows how to make beautiful women." he said eyeing Faith with pure lust.

"Yeah, I never heard that one before." Faith grumbled with a roll of her eyes, as she looked down at the Angel's shadow, that revealed his true form. With wide eyes she saw that it had horns, a tail, and seemed more muscular then the man before her appeared to be.

"Father."

"Alayah my sweet." Natas replied as he took his eyes off of Faith, stood up and kissed his daughter passionately on the lips.

"Ugh... now that your little family reunion is over, what the hell do you want with me?"

"Want?" Natas asked, as he sat at the edge of his seat. "What makes you think I want you for anything?"

"Look, I ain't some kind of fuck-tard all right." she started, finding that her Slayer strength was rendered useless. "If you wanted me dead you woulda killed me already."

"You're so observant. You're exactly what I want in a Queen."

"What..."

"I can keep you looking young and beautiful forever and I'll give you anything your heart desires." Natas replied, as he ran a finger in her hair. "All you have to say is you'll be my bride."

"Blow me."

"Mmmmm, I'll take that as a maybe." the dark angel replied, his smile disappearing. "Take her away." watching as Despair forcefully yanked Faith out of the room, Alayah sat in the Devil's lap and sighed.

"Daddy why do you want that, Bitch for?" she asked, almost child like. "Don't you have enough wives?"

"You know me, little one. I can't get enough of women." as the two started to laugh, they both sensed demonic power. Looking up, they saw War and Angelus walk into the room. "War... did you get your brother's soul?"

"No father." War replied as he gave Angelus a sideways glance. "Someone botched up the job."

"Hey, it's not like I got much help you..."

"Silence!" Satan demanded, his true form flashing for a moment. "It's almost time for me to fully anchor myself to this world and I need a soul. Assemble the Beast. I'll take the Knight's soul my damn self."

"Your sword Father." War said as he got on one knee and presented the sword that he had stolen from Xander.

"Keep it, my boy." Satan replied patting him on the head. "You'll need it for tomorrow. We're going to burn this planet down to the ground."


	6. Chapter 5 The Whore Of Sunnydale

A/N Sorry that I didn't have time to thank everyone for their reviews, so I'll say thank you now. I can't believe this fic is almost over. Again thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing.

Chapter 5

The Whore Of Sunnydale

Consciousness slowly coming back to him, Xander felt that he was laying on a floor. He knew the difference because of his many beatings in hell and even the beatings that he recieved from his father. Memory fuzzy and breath slowing slightly, he laid still, until he heard a news anchor man's voice.

"And in other news, the death toll all around the world seems to be rising by the hour."

_What?!_ Xander's mind screamed at him, heart thundering.

"In just one hours time fifty thousand people in different parts of the U.S. and another sixty thousand in Europe, Asia, and Africa respectively have died." the man said as someone whispered something to him. "Yes they have all died under mysterious circumstances and the official death count is now over one hundred and forty four thousand."

Hearing the television suddenly turn off, he felt a presence standing over him.

"How are you feeling son?" a familiar voice asked. Finally managing to open his eyes he looked up and saw Giles of whom was handing him a glass of water.

"Giles... G-man... what are you... what's going on?"

"That's the same thing, I'd like to know." Giles replied as Xander took the proffered glass and drank from it. Savoring as the cool liquid went down his throat, X looked up to see the older man still staring at him. "What's the last thing that you remember?"

"I... the last thing I remember was some guy that looked like me giving me a piece of paper and then you handing me a glass of water."

"And, you're sure that, that's all you remember?" Giles asked again, as he started pacing. Not waiting on the answer, he continued. "So you remember nothing of being the Anti-Christ?"

Seeing that he was about to stand Giles used his power to make him sit down again.

"It's all right. The sword that you carried put a seal on your soul that kept your dark side at bay. I've managed to reseal you however." he said indicating the revolver that sat in it's holster at his side. Looking at it, Xander grinned.

_Even after all of this time you're still saving my ass, Billy. _as he thought that, he was completely taken off guard when Giles slapped him hard across the face.

"Now tell me what you were thinking? Natas? Natas... Xander how the bloody he... why would you trust an Angel that called himself that? And then you believe an Angel was sent to hell to retrieve you. Have you gone mad?"

"I'm about as crazy as you are for letting Angel be on our team." Xander replied as Giles let out a sigh and sat down next to him, on the couch.

"Touche." he said as they sat down in an uncomfortable silence.

"Where is everybody anyway?" Xander spoke up after a few minutes of sitting down.

"As you might not know, Satan's daughter killed Wesley." the older man replied as he took off his glasses to clean them. _The Watcher's Council was destroyed too, so we won't get any help from them either._ "Against my judgment I was told to give Willow the extent of her magical abilities, so she's at her home now resting. As for Buffy, I've sent her somewhere so she can retrieve an artifact that was lost to the Slayer many years ago. In addition I've put a magical ward over this house to keep evil out, Satan has almost every demon in town doing his bidding, half the town has evacuated, and Gabriel has blew his horn so the true ending of the world is about to commence."

"So... in other words we're screwed?"

"Indefinitely." Giles replied glumly, placing his spectacles back on his face.

"Then what's the point of fighting this? This is a war we were destined to lose isn't it?"

"My boy, if we don't fight what else are we going to do?"

Sunnydale Cemetery

Buffy walked her familiar path through the graveyard, until she came across a wrought-iron gate overgrown with dead vines and opened it, cautiously. Inside, she found an ancient stone pyramid that she'd never seen until now. The iron door was topped with an runic symbol, Buffy noted as she approached and kicked it inward, sending it sliding down a set of stone steps and into a ceremonial chamber.

Buffy entered to find a pagan temple lit by torches set in wall sconces. Jars and baskets were clustered in the corners, causing Buffy to peer into the shadows, looking all around her for some clue as to what this place was. Eyes settling on a huge rock in the middle of the room, she walked over to it and saw a dazzling colored red ax sticking out of it. Drawn to it, she walked over and with little effort pulled it out. Feeling power washing over her, she was about to turn and leave until she heard something. Suddenly a voice rang out from behind a sheer curtain and an elderly woman, dressed in the robes of an ancient culture walked out.

"I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten how young you would be. Comes from the waiting. The mind plays tricks." she said looking down at the Scythe "I see you've found our weapon."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, taking a step back.

"One of many guardian's. Well… time was. Now I'm alone in the world."

"So what are you? Some kind of ghost?"

"No, I'm as real as you are. Just… well, let me put it this way: I look good for my age. I've been waiting." she replied as she held out her hands. Not knowing why she trusted her, Buffy gave her the scythe.

"You pulled it out of the rock. I was one of those who put it in there. And you're lucky it was supposed to have been moved to another location soon."

"What is it?"

"A weapon. A scythe. Forged in secrecy for one like you who— I'm sorry. What's your name?"

"Buffy."

"No, really." the Guardian asked, trying not to laugh. Buffy merely shrugged and the Guardian continued. "We forged it in secrecy and kept it hidden from the Shadow Men who..."

"Yeah, my Watcher told me about those guys. I gotta say I really don't care too much for 'em."

"Ah, yes. Then you know. And they became the Watchers and the Watchers watched the Slayers… but we were watching them."

"Oh, so you're like… what are you?"

"Guardians. Women who want to help and protect you. We forged this centuries ago, halfway around the world."

"Hence the Luxor Casino theme." Buffy joked. Not getting a laugh she stood there and listened.

"Forged there, it was put to use right here… to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the earth. The rest were already driven under. And then there were men here, and then there were monks. And then there was a town… and now there is you. And the scythe remained hidden."

"I don't understand. How is it possible that we didn't know any of this?"

"We hid, too. We had to until now. We're the last surprise."

"Does this mean we can win?" Buffy asked as the older woman handed her back, her Scythe.

"I think not." a voice replied out of nowhere. Looking to where she came from, she saw a handsome well muscled man, probably in his twenties, with big angelic wings and long black hair walking into the room.

"Wretched demon you're not welcome here." the Guardian replied with a sneer on her lips.

"Come now. Is that anyway to talk to your master?" Satan asked. "Learn your place, woman."

"What's going on here?" Buffy asked looking at them both. "Who are you?"

"Beelzebub, Father of lies, Abaddon, Apollyon, King of Babylon, Natas, Lucifer... I'll let you make the decision on what to call me."

"Sa...Satan..." Buffy asked, voice and body shaking.

"So you've heard of me." he replied sarcastically, enjoying the look of cold fear that he saw in her eyes.

"Take these and run young one." the older woman said tossing her two silver bracelets that were big enough to fit around her wrists. "Get out of here before..."

"Shut up you old hag." Satan demanded as he hit the Guardian, knocking her to the other side of the room. "I wasn't talking to you."

Enraged Buffy put the bracelets in her jacket before she ran forward and swung her Scythe only for the age old demon to snatch it out of her hand.

"Oh I haven't seen this little thing in a long time." Satan said more to himself as he twirled the weapon around between his fingers. Stopping he saw her watch on in awe, as he snapped it in half across his knee like it was a twig. "Oops."

Seeing that Buffy was trapped and scared, Satan's charming smile stood firmly in place thinking he won. Taking a swing she ducked, making him slam into the cement support pillar, shattering it and causing him to wince in pain. Furious, he rounded on her as she leapt up onto a stone pillar.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Buffy asked nervously. "You can't hit little old me?"

"Now I see why my daughter likes fighting you." he replied. "You're just full of spunk."

"And you're just full of it."

He smiled at that and cocked his arm back to punch. As his fist pistoned forward, Buffy leaned backward, almost impossibly far, and the blow sailed right over her head. She pivoted and turned as Satan staggered forward, his momentum unchecked. He swung again and this time she ducked and dived past him like a ballplayer making a headfirst slide. His genial demeanor gone now, he rounded on her, anger boiling in his eyes. He charged Buffy, crouched low, aiming for her gut clipping her legs… but she leaped up, landing atop the stone steps. Counting her blessings, she ran up the steps and out of the building.

"Damnit! I'll get you soon enough bitch and your little Scooby gang too!" he yelled out as he started to fade in and out. He needed a powerful soul and quick before he was banished back to hell. Hearing a groaning sound he looked back and saw the Guardian coming out of her unconsciousness. "Hmmm, I guess you'll just have to do."

Summers Residence

"And if he were to be released, the gateway to hell would open, and the Old Ones would return." Giles was saying as the front door opened. Looking up, both he and Xander watched as Buffy limped into the house.

"Buffy are you all right?" Giles asked as he walked over to her.

"Yeah, I just ran into our friendly neighborhood devil." she replied as Giles put his hand on her forehead, instantly healing her wounds.

"What about the Guardian... the... the weapon?" he asked as she lowered her gaze to the floor.

"The Devil snapped the Slayer Scythe in half like a twig. And the Guardian... she gave me these as a little parting gift." she replied taking out the silver rings and handing them too him.

"My word... Buffy... these... these haven't been used in almost five hundred and sixty eight years." Giles said in awe. "This is... this is the armor of God."

"Um... I hate to be the bearer of bad news Giles." Buffy started in a sarcastic tone. "But um these little things couldn't protect a fly."

"Looks can be very deceiving." he replied handing them back to her. "A thousand years ago a priest named Heinrich Joseph Nest, fell in love with a woman named Amarra. He had taken a vow of celibacy in the eyes of the Lord, but for her he betrayed those vows. For years they were in love before a tragic accident claimed her life. After that day he turned against God and made a pack with the devil that if he brought Amarra back that he would have his immortal soul and would be his slave forever."

"That's a very fascinating story, Giles." Buffy cut him off. "But what does that have to do with these?"

"It's relevant to the story believe me." he said taking off his glasses. "After a year or so of killing and drinking the blood of over a hundred people, Satan turned him into a vampire. A vampire that we all know as the Master. As a promise that he would one day bring Amarra back, Satan gave him a ring appropriately called the Gem of Amarra. This Gem had the power to make a vampire virtually invincible. Enraged that such a thing could be brought into existence, the Vatican and the Watchers Council pleaded with God for mercy. Years later a balance was made when a knight came forward and fought the Master for nearly a day. When the sun was up, he beat the Master and took the Gem off of his finger, making him retreat into the darkness. Before the knight walked away himself he gave those to the Watcher's Council."

"Wait, why didn't the knight just kill the Master and get it over with?" Xander suddenly asked.

"Because it wasn't his job." the older man answered. _It was Buffy's_ "His job was to give those bracelets to us. With those anyone that has a good heart, a chosen one, can harness a small amount of power from God himself. In essence the wearer would have the power of a Seraph." he said letting that sink into their heads. "The Vatican took the Gem and placed it in an undisclosed location. We hid our treasure, but we used it once for a Slayer by the name of Joan of Arc to kill a legend of very powerful demons."

_Joan of Arc wore these?_ Buffy asked herself. When her history class spoke on her it was the one time she stayed awake. Now she knew why. It was because she was reading about her sister Slayer.

"After giving the bracelets back the... the Council betrayed her and had her burned at the stake." he admitted, hoping that Buffy wouldn't freak out. Seeing that she didn't he continued. "The Master later formed a group of vampires known as the Order of Aurelius. They searched the globe in order to find the gem of Amarra, but in 1609 he found something else. It seems that for the lack of anything else, Satan had kept his promise. He had brought Amarra's soul back in the form of Darla. Many years later some demons informed the Master that the ring was in Sunnydale. When he came here he found the Hellmouth but opening dimensional portals is difficult, and he instead triggered an earthquake that leveled the town and buried him along with the Hellmouth. Adding to his problems, the failed attempt also sealed him in a space-time force field from which he couldn't leave. The rest as you say... is history."

"Man... when did you become an Encyclopedia Britannica for demons?" Buffy asked, with a little smirk.

"Let's just say that being an Angel has it's perks." he replied, putting his glasses back on. "Seriously Buffy you'll know when the time is right to use them so guard those with your life. With those in your possession we have a glimmer of hope now. Where are you going?" he asked as Xander stood to his feet.

"I might sound like a Zeppo right now, but I think I'm gonna go for a donut run. I'll be back in a few."

"Hurry back. Willow will be here soon and I want to discuss with the group a plan I have for tomorrow morning."

"Do you think it's safe to let him go out alone Giles?" Buffy asked curiously. "I mean what if he tries something funny?"

"The seal I placed on him seems to be intact." the older man replied after a moment. "But as I told him before you arrived if anything happens... I'll have no choice but to kill him."

The Bronze

Same time

Faith laid in the back room of the nightclub, chained to the wall with her eyes closed. Even though she wasn't asleep, she felt a presence hovering around her. Feeling a hand going dangerously close to her face, she snapped her eyes open and gasped at who she saw.

"Angel?"

"Yeah." he said playing at her chains. "I see Satan must've healed your hands. Shhh... be quiet until I can figure out a way to get you out of this."

"It's about time you guys came for me." she whispered.

"Who said anything about letting you go?" Angel replied as he turned around in his game face. "I was just playing with you."

"Son of a bitch, you're working with them? I told Buffy we shoulda staked you."

"Come on Faithy how did you think this was gonna play out?" Angelus asked. "Did you really think that someone was really coming to save you?"

"My votes on yes." a figure said as they rolled to their knees and pounced forward with a sidekick that slammed Angelus away.

"Xander?"

"In the flesh!" he yelled out as he took his sword and sliced her chains in half, freeing her. "Come on." taking her by the hand they both rushed past the fallen vampire and burst out of the back room doors, only to run smack dab into Pain and Despair. Blocking the demons sickle strikes, on his sword Xander pushed them back and ran with Faith out of the front door. Sheathing his sword he ran forward and mounted a silver motorcycle.

Before Faith could get on the back of it a demon came out of nowhere and headed towards her. Seeing it coming Xander took out his sword and tossed it to her. Taking it in both hands she charged the demon with a cry. Before it could react, she plunged it through its heart, making it scream in agony. Pulling the sword back out of the demon's chest she watched as it fell to the ground and turned into ash.

"My kinda woman." Xander commented as she got on the back of the motorcycle.

"No time for that stud. Let's get the hell out of here."

"Already ahead of you." Xander said as he kicked down, revving up the bike and sped off. Hearing growls getting louder and louder they looked up and saw that they were being surrounded by demons from all sides.

"This is gonna be one hell of a fight scene?" Faith whispered, mostly to herself.

"No it's not." Xander said looking ahead of them and revving up the bike. "Hold on!"

Shreeching past a group of demons they headed towards an abandoned warehouse. Picking up speed they slammed through a huge window, sending a shower of glass up into the air. Managing to stop the bike, even as it turned over on it's side, they both got up and ran out and up some stairs to a small room, watching for any pursuers. Faith opened the door and ran in, Xander right behind her and swinging the door shut.

"Looks like somebody's been squatting here." Faith said as she looked around and saw a blanket, a pillow, and a half eaten box of twinkies on the floor.

"Yeah those are mine." he replied checking out the window. Not seeing anything he rushed over to the other window and checked there, too, but again saw nothing. "Good the spell I put on this place to keep demons away is still holding up."

"What... so you used to live here or something?"

"Yeah... ummm when I first came from hell, I stayed here for awhile before I got a motel and remembered where Buffy lived." he answered as he walked past her.

"I heard alot about you, but Buffy never mentioned how good you were in a fight."

"You spend a few hundred years in hell and you'll learn a few things." Xander replied as he looked up to see Faith staring at him.Walking over to where he was standing she ran her hand over his chest and inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"A fight like that and... I had to run... I'm about ready to pop." she whispered with a smile, still rubbing her hand over his chest.

"Really?" he asked nervously, looking down at her rubbing hands. "Pop?!"

Smiling sexily, she whispered. "You up for it?"

"Trust me after hundreds of years with no sex, I'm up."

Taking the invitation she smiled at him and got closer, lowering her hand to his crotch.

"I'm suddenly **very** up. It's just, um..." he stopped talking, grinning sheepishly. "I've never been up with people before."

"Just relax..." she started as she grabbed his jaw and kissed him full on the lips with plenty of tongue. "And take your pants off." even as she said that she started to push his shirt and jacket off of his shoulders.

"Those two concepts are antithetical."

Not really listening to him she yanked his shirt and jacket down his back and off his arms, and threw them down. They then locked in a passionate embrace and kissed each other hard. With pure lust in her eyes Faith turned him around and shoved him onto the pallet on the floor. Jumping up she straddled him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't worry." she said pulling off her own shirt. "I'll steer you around the curves."

After an hour of having sex the two laid on the floor breathing heavily and cuddled up in one another's arms.

"Damn... for somebody that ain't had sex before you were on it." Faith breathed huskily into his ear. "I mean damn."

"Trust me I wasn't the only one on it." he replied as she thought about what he had said and they both laughed at the joke. Reaching over her, Xander grabbed a bottle and popped the cork on it. "I found this when I first got here. It's a very old bottle of champagne and right now I can't think of a better reason to celebrate."

Not saying a word she grabbed the bottle out of his hand and drank from it greedily making him smile.

"You know Faith, you really are a dumb whore." he said standing to his feet.

"What did you say?" she asked as she took her lips off of the bottle and stared at him hard.

"I said that you're a dumb whore." he repeated. "You know me for what... a few seconds and I'm fucking you. Damn you're retarded. My sister Alayah was right about you. You are a bitch."

Standing to her feet, Faith attempted to rush him, but she found that the room was spinning. Too late she figured that the champagne was drugged. Trying to hold on, she slowly walked to him and collapsed in his arms. Using the last of her strength she looked up at him and snarled.

"By the way the name ain't Xander baby." War said as he magically changed back into his red robe and hood. "It's War."

Hearing the door open, he saw his big sister Alayah and a few other demons enter the room. Scooping Faith up, he placed her in the hands of one of the demons.

"Take her, get her cleaned up, and ready for the ceremony." he ordered the demons as they left the room with the still naked Faith. Looking over at Alayah he suddenly smiled. "You don't think dad is gonna be made that I fucked his bride to be do you?" he asked as they both started to laugh.

"Come on little bro, you know daddy." she said looping her arms around the back of his head. "He doesn't mind if you touch his things."

"Then one more shouldn't hurt." War replied as he leaned down and kissed his sister on the lips. "Like Arsenio would say... let's get busy."

Sunnydale High

The Next Day

Giles led the Scooby gang through the part of the high school that wasn't burnt, keeping a watchful eye as they walked closer to the basement area.

"Well atleast one good thing came out of this apocalypse." Buffy started with a smile on her face.

"What's that?" Giles asked.

"No school. Wait but if we lose the Devil might make us go to school forever." she said rethinking things.

"We aren't going to lose." Willow said with her resolve face, that broke a moment later. "Are we Giles?"

"I sincerely hope not." he said aloud. _But if Buffy keeps up with these bad puns we're doomed._

"Giles, I've been meaning to ask you something." Willow said as she started to fidget, in her all white gown.

"Yes Willow, what is it?"

"I thought that God and the whole witch thing didn't mix?" she asked. "I mean why would he give me this power?"

"Well Willow..."

"Guys do you hear that." Xander interrupted.

"It... it sounds like somebodies chanting." Buffy said stretching her Slayer hearing. Doubling their efforts the gang rushed around a corner and into a dead end of debris and burned plaster.

"What do we do now?" Willow asked, as everyone looked to Giles for guidance. Drawing his arms back and cupping his hands a small amount of purple energy started to gather in his palms. Letting his arms fly forward a beam of pure energy shot out of his hands and blasted the wall and opened a hole in the floor.

Taking point, Buffy dropped down the hole, followed by Xander and then Willow. Walking down a tight corridor the chanting got louder after each of their foot falls. Seeing light at the end of the tunnel they came out of it and saw War, Alayah, and demonic monks in a circle around a huge demonic symbol, featuring an inverted pentagram and a goat's head. Feeling their presence in the room, War and the others stopped chanting and turned to look at them.

"You're too late brother." War said taking off his hood. Using a dagger he sliced his hand open and dribbled his blood over the Seal of Danzalthar. As his blood started to pool up and fill the grooves, the Scooby gang could only watch in horror as the seal started to glow and the true gates to the deeper well that held the Old Ones started to open.

* * *

Faith felt as though her body was floating. Slowly coming out of her grogginess she found that she was wobbling back and forth on something hairy. Something hairy? her mind screamed. Forcing herself to open her eyes she looked down and saw that she was riding on the back of Oz's werewolf form. And she was riding on him butt naked, hands bound by chains, with a crown of thorns around her head.. Hearing a clamoring of people she looked around and saw that she was being marched down a street, like she was in a parade with hundreds of people on either side of her.

As her vision became clearer she saw that all of the people were dead, skin rotting and maggots dropping off of their bodies. Feeling a powerful presence she looked ahead of herself and saw Angelus in a dark cloak, Death, Desolation, Pain, and Despair standing in front of an altar built of human bones, flesh, and blood. And standing on top of the altar was the Father of evil himself.

"Finally my bride has arrived and I can start to massacre this planet." Satan said loudly, with a wicked smile. "Tell me how does it feel to be the whore of Sunnydale and the queen of the beast?"

As she got closer Faith said the only thing that would come to her mind at the moment. "Shit."


	7. Chapter 6 War Cry

A/N I wanted to thank everyone personally for supporting this fic and I'm sorry about taking so long to update. Please leave your reviews and tell me what you think, whether it's good or bad.

I worked hard on this fic and I want to know what you guys think. I also have a very short epilogue for this and I'll post it shortly.

Thanks again you guys. Also some of the fight scenes are from this super cool fan made anime Battle with the girls from the game Dead or Alive and Final Fantasy fight each other called Dead Fantasy, so for those scenes used I give credit to Monty Oum. He's pretty cool and if you want to see the video go to yahoo or google and type in Dead Fantasy to bring up the video.

**7.And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against**

**the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8.But he was**

**not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9.The great**

**dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or**

**Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,**

**and his angels with him (Rev. 12:7–9, NIV).**

Chapter 6

War Cry

"Do you hear that brother?" War asked as some of the Old Ones started to reawaken. "I'll still give you one more chance brother. Join us... and spill a little of your blood so you can open up the gateway to hell."

"So that's all you needed me for?" Xander asked, taken aback. "You need my blood to..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... to open up the gateway to hell. Now stop making me repeat myself and get your ass over here. I'm the older brother and what I say goes."

"Xander what are you doing?" Willow asked as he started to step forward.

"I'm fulfilling my destiny." taking out his revolver, Xander charged forward and went into a flawless rainbow kick, that War easily slipped under. Coming up with a punch of his own, War caught Xander on the tip of his chin knocking him to the ground.

"Is that the best you got?" War asked, with a smile as he took out his sword. "Never mind you can stay on the losing team. I'll just spill your blood the old fashioned way."

"We better help, Xander out." Willow whispered to Buffy as they both ran forward, only for Alayah to step in their path.

"Where do you bitches think you're going?" the fallen Angel asked as she extended her hand. Before Buffy could reply a black shadow cascaded out of Alayah's hand and caused a distortion in front of the two girls. As the inky blackness surrounded the two girls they, along with Alayah, disappeared into nothingness.

"Buffy!" Xander shouted out as he stood to his feet.

"Don't worry about them." War told his little brother as the first wave of demons came out of the Hellmouth. "Worry about yourself."

Seeing that he was about to be overpowered in the cramped area, Xander turned around and made a run for the hole that Giles had made. Jumping up it as they clawed at his feet, he looked down to see Giles sitting Indian style on the floor, praying.

"Time to go, G-man!" Xander yelled pulling the older looking man to his feet.

"What's going... good lord." he bellowed as he saw the demons ripping themselves out of the floor. Joining Xander in his run, he touched his hand, making both of them transport out into a Sunnydale street. Looking down one end of the street Xander's eyes grew wide as he saw something that he finally couldn't believe. Touching Giles on the arm, even he let out a "Good Lord." as he saw Faith naked, tied to a werewolf, and being marched down towards a sick looking altar.

As they were about to run to try to help her, they suddenly heard loud growls and screams. Turning they saw an approaching crowd of hundreds, if not thousands,of demons of all sorts, shapes and sizes. And what made it worse was that it was being led by Xander's brother, War. Looking down to his left he saw another vast group approaching them.

"This looks like this is it, G-man." Xander said sadly as he took out his revolver and got it ready.

"For the last time, Xander don't call me that."

"But we're about to die." Xander replied with a pout. "I'll take the thirty thousand on the left and you take the fifty thousand on the right."

"Agreed." as Giles said that the demons came within ten feet of them before they stopped in front of them, salivating. Feeling a gust of wind overhead, Satan suddenly descended out of the sky and landed in front of them.

"We've offered you chance after chance to join us." he started as he looked at Xander. "Tell me, why are you staying loyal to someone that didn't even want you on their team in the first place?"

"What else was I going to do?" he asked as he shared a look with Giles. Not liking that answer the Devil suddenly snarled.

"Kill them both, but leave the blood inside of this one." he said pointing to Xander. "Do whatever you wish with this one. Then I want you to burn this town to the..."

"I don't think so, demon!" a powerful yet familiar voice yelled out.

"Dad?" Xander asked as the group from the left finally came into view. They weren't demons at all but rather all humans... the parents of the children in the town and most likely from other parts of the world since their numbers seemed to be in the thousands.

"Your reign over this world is finally over devil." Tony Harris said as he stood in front of his son and cocked the slide back on his shotgun.

"And what do you think you can do to us... you little..."

"We are the descendants of the first humans that cast you out of this world in the first place." Tony cut him off, making him and the other demons cringe a little. "Remember this demon?" he asked, unsheathing a beautiful silver and red sword from his side scabbard. "In modern times this sword is called Excalibur, but it was used by my ancestor, a knight to banish you to the depths of hell. Look around you now demons. Look at the weapons my army has possession of." he said as he pointed to just a few of the parents. "The spear that was used to stab Jesus when he was crucified, the Chains of Olympus, the armor of Hercules, The Gloves of Hades."

Seeing that the army of the Old Ones were about to march forward, being driven insane by hearing about the weapons they knew could kill them, an invisible barrier formed blocking them from getting to their meals. Hands outstreched, Sheila Rosenberg, aswell as a few other witches stepped out in front of the crowd.

"You're going to have to hurry, Tony!" Sheila yelled out as the old demons started to pound mercilessly on the shield. "We can't hold them back forever."

"Dad what the hell is going on?" Xander demanded.

"I knew what you were since the beginning." Tony admitted, deflating in front of his son. "I knew all about you being special. Hell me, your mom, and the Rosenberg's even protected Sunnydale before you and my little Willow tree were even born. Didn't you ever wonder why I made a point of you and Willow becoming close as kids?"

"So Willow's mom is a witch and more importantly you knew about the Hellmouth all this time?" Xander asked, dumb struck.

"Yeah." his father replied, lowering his gaze. "I've known about it since I was a little child. Our family have been knights since the last pure demon was driven out. We are the Knight's of Arabo's. That knowledge and this sword has been passed down from generation to generation. Just like magical power has been handed down to the Rosenberg's."

"But how did you know to come here?" Xander asked.

"Call it divine intervention." he smiled, before digging in his pocket and showing him a simple golden ring. "This is the band of Blacknil. It has the power to move someone between earth and hell."

"Why are you telling me this?" Xander asked, feeling a sense of dread.

"Because when we send Satan back to Hell, I plan on following him down there and finishing the job." he said finally meeting his son's gaze. "And I'm telling you that because, because I wanted to ask for your forgiveness. It's the only way I could atone for all those years of abusing you. I had no right..."

"Tony!!" Sheila yelled out, getting her leaders attention. Looking up they saw that the shield was visibly weakening. Switching back to his warrior mode Tony stepped forward.

"If we parish tonight, we do so knowing that we stood up to evil. We do so letting evil know we're not it's bitch!" he started.

"Your father is quite a motivational speaker." Giles whispered over to Xander.

"Yeah, where do you think I get it from."

"But as history taught us... goodness cannot be stopped. In the end days it alone shall reign." Tony started. "Everyone get ready. Sheila drop the force field." as soon as she did both the forces of light and darkness clashed in the most brutal way possible.

Sunnydale Hospital

Ben shook his head in awe at all of the dead bodies... no... empty husks of what were once people laid out in various positions all over the hospital. He had to admit that in his lifetime he had seen many strange things but this took the cake. Sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned and saw something that made him take a step back.

"What the..."

"She is needed." a woman's voice said as she laid a hand on his chest, making him scream and separating him from the demon within.

Purgatory

Same Time

_Cold._ Was the first thought that popped into Buffy's head. Opening her eyes she saw that she was laying on a cold floor of... where ever the hell she was right now. Getting to her feet, she saw that she was in a room with tons of modern and medieval weaponry. Going to a table her hands grazed upon all of the weapons, until she heard a loud noise that made her snatch up whatever her hands were on. Chancing a look around she suddenly saw two dark shadows dancing about in a corner.

This can't be good. She thought to herself as she turned to run towards a corridor that had light at the end of it. As she ran, demonic laughter filled her ears as the two apparitions gave chase. Jumping a short distance from one stone pillar to another, she went out of the entrance of light and looked around her surroundings and saw that she was in some kind of gothic arena, with chained long blocks hanging on the ceiling.

Marveling at the sight before her, a pink rose petal suddenly floated before her and landed at her feet. Seeing two cloaked figures materialize down some steps in front of her, Buffy suddenly gulped as Pain and Despair jerked off their robes revealing themselves to be two beautiful women in skimpy outfits. Despair had long flowing red hair and a short sword behind her back, while Pain had short cropped hair seemingly defenseless.

Looks like this is girls night out. Buffy thought to herself as she looked down at the weapons that were in her hands and let out a sigh. Damn I hate guns, but I guess these will have to do. she thought twirling the nine millimeters in her hands. Responding in kind Despair took the short sword out of it's scabbard and Pain materialized a double sided sword in her hand. Dropping the hammer back on her weapons, Buffy let loose a barrage of energy based bullets of which her opponents either dodged or deflected off of their weapons.

Jumping up the stairs Pain almost sliced Buffy in half, but sensing the attack Buffy moved out of the way only to have to block a blow by Despair. Opening fire on her, which her opponent dodged, Buffy let out a spin kick, only for her to avoid that as well. As she spun around she glimpsed her other opponent coming up behind her and she leaned backwards hard to avoid her next attack. Doing a side jump to distance herself from her, Buffy again shot at her only for Pain to spin her weapon around and block all of her shots. Jumping over her partner Despair came down hard with a forward slice and seeing that Buffy stopped shooting and brought her weapons up in an x to block.

That was close. Buffy thought as she jumped down into a roll, aimed back and shot her red headed foe in the stomach. Seeing that she was stunned for a moment, she kicked her leg up and knocked Pain back a step, before jumping off of the stairway and onto the floor below. Before she could move, with unmatched speed, Despair ran in front of her and slashed up, knocking her hands into the air. Caught off guard Buffy was unprepared for when she jumped over her, grabbed her from behind and threw her high into the air. Using Despair's shoulder as a spring board, Pain jumped into the air and before she could slice the Slayer in half a shadow snatched her weapon out of her hand.

Landing on her feet, she smiled at who had just saved her life.

"Willow where were you this whole time?" Buffy asked as she looked over at the red head.

"Sorry, I was busy pissing my pants." she whispered back nervously. "I materialized in a different part of this place. I heard gunshots so I headed this way. Are... are we gonna fight now?"

"We sure the hell aren't going to play Tic Tac Toe." the Slayer replied as she gave her another look. "I've never seen you throw a punch before. Do you even know how to fight?"

Stretching out her hands a loud sound emanted out of Willow's body, as a flash of light quickly engulfed her. As it vanished she suddenly looked over at Buffy with sudden bravado.

"I do now." she replied as she tossed Pain back her weapon, before taking out two ninja sai's of her own..

"I guess it's no time like show time." Buffy muttered as she readied a brace on each wrist as she crossed her arms in the sky and shouted while bringing the two braces together. The two braces flashed with pure white energy as they connected, and a silver form fitting suit of armor covered her body. With a low grunt as ancient power surged through her, Buffy eyed her enemy with a fury in her eyes.

Nodding towards Willow the two rushed their foes. Buffy holstered her guns before low blocking a blow and then backfisting Despair across the head. She then moved forward, kicking Pain in the gut and knife handing her across the back of her neck. Seeing that Buffy had them distracted Willow jumped high into the air and used her ninja sai's to cut one of the chains that were holding the long blocks. Hearing a swinging noise Despair looked up just in time to teleport just as the stone block cracked her across the head.

As it swung back, a pair of strong hands caught the block ripping it off the chains.

"Man, this looks like a fun game." Alayah said as she threw the stone block into the air. Giving it a forceful punch, she slapped it towards Buffy and Willow. Not being able to move fast enough the stone crashed into them, sending them exploding through a brick wall.

Pushing pieces of brick and mortar out of her way as she laid prone on the ground, Buffy somehow managed to stop her head from spinning. Looking up from her position on the ground she saw Pain, Despair, and Alayah slowly walking out of the hole to the connecting room, the latter smiling as she strolled out into the awaiting sunlight.

"Alright, bitches." Alayah said as she and Buffy stared at each other, eye to eye. "Time to die."

"Ew, what is that? And why is her hair that color?" a husky voice asked from behind Alayah's group.

What happened next literally happened in a blur and was so unbelievable that it took Buffy's mind a few seconds to process what was happening. A pretty curly haired blond with a form fitting red dress and matching shoes came out of a blurred run and spun around while executing a reverse crescent kick that slammed Despair forcibly to the ground. She then turned to her right and punched Pain in the face, while at the same time stretching out her arm and clotheslining Alayah, knocking her off of her feet.

"Who... who are you?" Buffy asked as she and Willow got up off of the ground. Making sure the demonic women were down and out the woman turned, walked over to them and looked at Willow and then at Buffy, before cocking her head to the side.

"A Slayer?? Oh god, please don't tell me I have to help a Vampire Slayer!" the blond screamed out as she put one hand to her forehead. "How unbelievably common! If I had friends, and they heard about this ..."

"You're... you're a God aren't you?" Willow interrupted her as she took a step back. She could feel an unbelievable amount of hellish power coming from her and for some reason in the back of her mind she felt that she was supposed to know her from somewhere.

"Right in one sweet pea." the curly haired woman said with a smirk. "And when I help get rid of these skanks, I'm going to go after Satan and rip the walls of what you call heaven open and take my place as it's ruler."

"Well I have one thing to say to that." Buffy asked stepping up to the hell Goddess. "Where did you get those shoes? I gotta get some of those." before she could reply, Alayah punched the Goddess in the back of the head knocking her to the ground.

"The Goddess Glorificus." Alayah said as she put down her hand, as her cronies came up behind her. "I was merely a newborn when Jehovah and my father cast you out of heaven."

"You hit me!" Glory said standing to her feet. "What, are you crazy? You can't go around hitting people. What, were you born in a barn? Fine. Be that way, I'll just squash you and send you back to daddy dearest in a box."

"Ummm, are we done talking now?" Willow asked, suddenly anxious as all of the women looked over at her. Not answering her in words, both parties clashed into one another.

* * *

Xander ducked and rolled underneath a demons battle axe, trying to take out his gun.. Not having enough time to get it out, he flipped back to his feet and slammed a sidekick into his chest. Catching the demons axe as it flipped up in the air, Xander did a spin with it chopping off it's head. Feeling a presence to the left of him, he threw the weapon embedding a large green demon in the chest.

Sweet pouring down his brow and muscles burning with fatigue, he turned too late as something dark crashed into him lifting him into the air and sending him flying backward into the window of a church. As if to cushion his fall he landed about a dozen feet into the building and crashed through some pews where he laid covered in debris.

"The infamous White Knight is finally going to die." Angelus said as he appeared in the window, his cloak still covering his body so he wouldn't be harmed by the suns rays. As he jumped into the room, his boots crunched in glass as he took down the hood of said cloak. "And you will die by my hands no less."

Suddenly Death and Desolation strode in the room each one grabbing one of Angelus' arms. Falling down to his kness as strange power surged through him Death and Desolation suddenly disappeared into the vampires body. With a scream his hood fell back over his head and after a moment the room fell silent, even as Death's sickle appeared in his hands. Raising his head his eyes glowed an unholy shade of red.

Running at an unnatural speed Angelus stalked forward and hauled Xander out of the wooden wreckage. Not playing possum anymore he flipped up into the air, kicking hard into the vampire's face before landing and hammering his belly with punch after punch. He then ducked several blows and followed with one of his own but Angelus stopped his arm in mid-swing and pounded him to his knees, then swung him into a wooden column with tremendous force.

"What's wrong?" Angelus asked in a darker demonic voice. "Not playing out like you thought."

Trying to get off of his knees, Xander didn't have enough strength left in him as Angelus pounded him, one massive blow to the head after another. His face bruised and bleeding the master vampire smirked as he brought one of his feet down on his back, crushing him. Not even giving him time to scream Angelus yanked him to his feet even as Xander spat blood into his face. Enraged, he lifted him above his head and slammed him down on the floor with bone-crunching force, then kicked him across the room.

Watching from the shadows, War shook his head in mock sympathy as his brother struggled to stand, gasping in pain.

"You know, somebody should break this up." he said to himself as he removed the hood of his cloak and walked around the room.

Xander crawled to the center of the room, his face contorted in pain as Angelus approached and stood over him. At that moment Xander realized he was about to die and faced it without fear.

"You're pathetic you know that?" Angelus asked as he raised his sickle over his head and prepared to strike, at the same time War slide up next to him and smiled down at his brother. "This was too easy."

"You can say that again!" War yelled as he whipped out Xander's cherub sword and slammed it hilt deep into Angelus' back.With a roar of agony Angelus batted him aside writhing about, in a desperate attempt to try to reach the sword buried in his back. Dropping the sickle as blood poured out of his mouth a large crack started to form all along the length of his body. Without dramatic fanfare War ripped the sword out of the demons back as he fell face first to the floor and turned into dust.

I never did like that guy. "So dear brother, how does it feel to know that you're going to die?" War asked as he wiped the blood of Angelus off of his blade with his robe. Seeing that his brother had made it too his knees he suddenly smirked at him. "Never mind I don't want to know." he said as he lunged forward, stabbing Xander through the gut and sending a spray of blood up that splashed him in the face.

Feeling as his brothers blood dripped down his face, War suddenly frowned in confusion as he didn't hear his brother's scream of pain, instead he only started to laugh. He was actually laughing at him. "What the hell is so funny?!"

"Some... something Giles taught me... taught me before I came here." Xander got out as he coughed blood out of his mouth, the wound in his stomach quickly seeping out blood that pooled under him. "Este motem pombem soda... soda le parmenum... soda le parmenum Ra!" he said the last part out in a whisper, even as War ripped the blade out of his belly.

"Fool!"

"I guess you have to be the... be the hero now." Xander said weakly as he tossed his brother, Billy the kids revolver. "Watch after Willow and Buffy for me and maybe... maybe, I'll see you on the other side."

Being thrown for a loop and watching as his twin brother fell over and died in his own blood, War was unprepared as visions and memories that weren't his assaulted his mind. He was reliving his brothers life. With a final glance to his brother War turned around with fury in his eyes. There was something that he had to finish. If he had only waited a moment longer he would've seen a white light shine over Xander's body.

* * *

Tony Harris ducked a clawed slash by a stray demon before expertly cutting it in half with his sword. Dashing forward, in a blur of motion his blade slashed through the demons as if they were wet pieces of paper. Swaying through the sea of demons and his friends, he suddenly saw his target. Looking back at him, his target suddenly sneered.

Raising his wings to full length the demon and the demon Slayer suddenly jumped into the air and went at it.

Tony blocked the Devil's blow and slammed a punch against his chest, before snapping out a kick that pushed the demon back. Another moved in to attack, but Tony knocked him away only for the Devil to take the advantage and grab Tony by the neck, lifting him off of the ground.

"You stupid little worm. Did you really think that you could stop..."

Suddenly a metallic tapping noise sounded through the air, making Satan turn to see his red cloaked son standing on top of a fire escape on a very high building. With a smile that quickly turned into a frown he instantly knew that something was wrong. His son was watching him angrily while tapping a revolver against the back of his sword.

With a flick of his wrist War threw a dagger down that whizzed past Satan's head and stabbed into the bonds that were holding Faith trapped on the unholy altar. Falling weakly down to her knees she struggled not to vomit, even as Excalibur was tossed down by her side.

"Take it... this must be finished." Tony begged Faith as Satan tossed him into a crowd of demons as if he were nothing.

"Now that he's out of the way." Satan said turning back to Faith with a false smile. "Be a good girl and hand me that sword."

"Fuck you." Faith spat out, finally getting to her feet.

"You stupid bitch!" the age old demon snarled. As he was about to advance on her a puff of red smoke shimmered in front of him, blocking him from getting to his bride to be. It was his son and he looked mad as hell.

"Don't worry dad, I'll take care of this." War said as he turned slightly, threw his red robe, and waved his hand, making Faith disappear in a puff of grey smoke.

"War what the hell have you done?!" Satan yelled, wide eyed. "Where is she?"

"I sent her where she needs to be." War replied with a smirk as he brought his sword up in a defensive pose. "Oh and the name is Brendon Harris."

"No..."

"Yes." Brendon replied as he ran towards his new adversary, vengeance fueling his rage.

* * *

Glory threw Despair forcibly through a brick wall, before turning to see that Alayah had clotheslined both Buffy and Willow. With a roll of her eyes, she was about to run over and help before watching as Pain jumped on Alayah's shoulder. With a grunt Alayah tossed Pain high into the air, where she latched onto the side of a tall tower and started to jump up the side of it.

"What is she doing?" Willow asked as she and Buffy got back to their feet.

"Whatever it is, it's not of the good." Buffy replied as she saw that Pain reached the top of the tower and started to draw in a large amount of energy.

"Then get your ass up there!" Glory yelled into the Slayers ear as she came up behind her and grabbed her under her arms. Before Buffy could protest Glory threw her like a bullet into the air, but what was more of a surprise was when she got nearly a foot to the top of the tower Despair suddenly appeared in front of her and punched her hard in the face knocking her back on the ground.

"That didn't work too good." Buffy deadpanned as she rubbed her jaw and stood to her feet. As one the group looked up and saw as Pain's energy reached it's end. Drawing the power into her hand she chopped the floor of the tower with her hand making it and the entire building shake and start to break apart.

As the dust from the destroyed tower started to come towards them, they watched as Pain, Despair, and Alayah disappeared into nothingness. "Fuck." Buffy voiced loudly as she saw that the only way down was a few thousand feet drop.

"You humans are such weaklings." Glory said doing a swan dive off of the building. Before the dust cloud could reach them, Willow and Buffy had bo choice but to follow suit.

The wind passed the three women in a blur as they soared downward like Superman. Getting control over their bodies they got into a standing position and started to run the length of the building. Glory using her

"This actually isn't that bad." Willow said as they all heard a clamouring behind them. Turning Buffy rolled her eyes as she saw Alayah and her gang catching up to them.

"You just had to open your big mouth didn't you?" Buffy asked as Willow hunched up her shoulders.

Running past the pact Alayah tried to punch Glory only for the hell Goddess to duck and grab her by the neck With a grunt Glory pushed her down and dragged her on the ground. Finally seeing the earth coming up towards them, the two groups pushed apart and landed harmlessly on the ground, all except Alayah of whom Glory threw twenty feet in the air..

Sending out a powerful punch to Pain, Willow knocked her up in the air and watched as something whizzed by her head and hit the demon through the heart. With a scream she turned into a reddish ash and disappeared. Looking back towards the way they fell they saw a red cloaked figure rapidly running towards them. Before they could register who it was, the figure ran past both groups and gathered up their sword before turning around.

"Faith?" Buffy asked as the woman in question ducked under Despair, slashed the demon on the stomach, before finishing her off with a hard swing that lobbed off her head.

"Yeah, B. Thanks for getting the party started without me." Faith joked as the blond haired Slayer rolled her eyes.

"Hey where'd you get that sword?" she asked as Faith looked past her and saw another blond walking towards Alayah. Giving Buffy and Willow a nod they joined her even as the fallen Angel managed to get to her knees.

"Looks like you're all alone now, sweet pea." Glory mocked as she, Buffy, Willow, and Faith surrounded her on all sides. With a satisfied smile Glory grabbed her by the hair and held her up off of her feet. "Any famous last words?"

"Yeah." Alayah said as she started to speak in some ancient demon language. Even though Buffy and the others couldn't understand Glory did and it seemed to make her super angry.

"That was the wrong thing to say to me kid." Glory replied as she punched Alayah in the head so hard that her fist went right through her skull and out the back of her head. Demonic energy flowing out of her Alayah fell to the ground, dead. "Ahhh, all in a days work."

"This is finally over." Willow said as the spell that gave her, her fighting abilities finally faded away.

"Yeah, but... how the hell are we going to get out of here?" Buffy asked as they all looked around.

"I can help you with that." a friendly woman's voice spoke up. In a shimmer of heavenly light appeared a beautiful woman with long raven hair, wearing a bluish robe, with huge angelic wings on her back.

"You!" Glory snarled, in recognition of the Angel. "I see you grew your other wing back?"

"You know her?" Buffy whispered into Glory's ear.

"She's one of Jehovah's most powerful subordinates." she answered back. "Her name is Hope."

She still remembered the day the two had fought. Even though the Angel was powerful, she had still managed to rip off one of her wings and get rid of her for a time. It was the day that Glory and Lucifer decided to overthrow what Jehovah now called Heaven. Glory and Jehovah were the two ruling powers of that diminsion and when he had left to create mankind and the Garden of Eden, she was told that Lucifer was to have dominion of Earth and he was instructed to teach human kind and glorify only Jehovah's name. That wasn't going to happen.

Waiting until her fellow ruler left, she manipulated Lucifer turning him against his Master. Hatred now spreading like a wildfire many other Angel's started to rebel, turning paradise into a hell diminsion. The Angel's Micheal and Hope along with their armies tries to stop them, but it wasn't until Jehovah returned did the tide of war change. Jealous of her power Lucifer joined Jehovah and managed to banish her out of Heaven. The rest was history. The good that did to both of them.

Glory smirked a little at that last thought, while at the same time Hope frowned having remembered the same things.

"Glorificus it's been a long time." Hope said as she floated down to the ground and made her wings wrap around her.

"Why did you free me?" Glory asked as Faith walked between the two.

"Hate to cut the girl talk short, but we need to get the hell out of here."

"Quite." Hope replied as she waved her hand at Buffy and her crew making them disappear.

"So this was your plan all along?" Glory asked, with a shake of her head. "You're just going to leave me here? Skank."

"As much as I... dislike you, Glorificus." Hope said struggling not to react to being called a Skank. " I'm not going to leave you here. You have a destiny to complete. The Beast and Satan belong together."

"You got that right, sister. And when I'm done with him I'm so going to enjoy taking Heaven back over again."

Not saying a word Hope sent her to Sunnydale with the others and when Glory finally disappeared from sight she smiled.

* * *

Tony struggled to come out of unconsciousness, especially once he heard and felt demons coming around him in all directions. Knowing what was to come next, he waited for his death only for it never to come. Opening his eyes he looked up and saw his little Willow tree .

"Mister Harris?" Willow asked, shocked.

"No time... no time to explain little one." Tony said as the blood from the gash on his forehead, started to leak into his eye. "Give this... give this to my son. This has to end."

Letting the darkness claim him, Tony fell unconscious in Willow's waiting arms.

"Buffy..."

"I'm kinda busy right now, Will." Buffy said as she grabbed a demon by the head and snapped it's neck.

"Don't look at me!" Faith yelled out over the demonic roars as she slashed at yet another demon.

Seeing that Glory was ripping a hole through the gap of demons heading towards where the Devil was fighting Xander, Willow had no choice but to leave Mister Harris and follow behind the Hell Goddess.

* * *

Brendon was getting tired and sluggish, as he struggled to keep up with the fighting pace of his demonic father. Managing to slam a roundhouse kick into his adversaries chest he took a few steps back to get enough distance to draw out the gun his brother had given him. Sheathing his sword he took aim with his gun and opened fire with a volley of bullets that ripped through the Devil's armor. But to his dismay as he kept pulling the trigger, he ran out of ammo.

"What's the matter son, shooting blanks?" Satan asked slyly as the skin that was hit by the bullets started to heal. "What is a father to do in this situation?"

"Call his Auntie Glory." Glory said as she popped up behind the demon and put him in a full nelson.

"What is this?" Satan started as he struggled to get out of the hold. "Everyone screw Satan day?"

As the two stood bickering Brendon looked out into the crowd of the dead and saw something that he read in his father's journal when he was a little kid. It was something that could turn the tide of war. Using his power of telekinesis he lifted the Chains of Olympus out of the cold dead hands of one of Sunnydale's parents and threw it at Satan and Glory, wrapping it around the both of them.

"What the fuck!" Glory screamed as she started to lose her powers.

"Damn you woman, stop screaming in my ear." Satan replied. "Son what are you doing?"

"For those powers of wickedness are sent to hell, bound with chains of darkness and kept there until damnation, unless God lets them loose for a time." Brendon said quoting scripture. "And I don't think he's going to let you out anytime soon."

"Xander..." Willow suddenly yelled out as she got up on the altar and ran towards him. But stopped short as she realized that the person she was looking at wasn't Xander. He looked just like him even down to the liquid brown eyes she fell in love with many years ago, but she knew that it wasn't her Xander shaped friend.

Seeing that Willow had the band of Blacknil, Brendon snatched it out of her hand and placed it on his finger. A strange sensation coming over him, he was brought to his knees as powers formed in his hands. Forming the power into the a large ball, he hurled it up, and watched as it exploded on the ground near where Satan and Glory were standing. The skies suddenly blackened as thunderous booms echoed through the air.

"No... not again." Satan started as he looked down into the abyss and heard the wails of the dead. Looking around, he saw that most of his demons were already defeated.

"That bitch!" Glory yelled as she thought about what Hope said about destiny. Not noticing Tony's army surrounding them, they were pushed into the black abyss without so much as a scream, even as the portal closed up behind them.

Before Willow could question War on why he helped them win the battle, she suddenly heard a demon growl. Looking past the sea of dead corpses she saw a group of people she didn't know backing a very dangerous looking demon up into a corner. Not just any demon but her lover.

"Oz...?" she asked as she jumped down off of the altar and ran towards where he was.

Watching after her, Brendon suddenly felt someone watching him. Looking up to a tall building he saw someone standing in darkness staring at him. Waving his hand towards where Willow was running he suddenly vanished.

* * *

Finally getting through the crowd of parents who were suddenly backing up, she looked down and saw Oz back in his human form, shivering on the cold ground naked.

"Oz oh, God... thank you." she said as she got down on her knees and started to hug him.

"Hey, Willow put this on him." Buffy said as she, Tony Harris, Sheila Rosenberg, and Faith ran over, thankful that all of her friends seemed to have made it. Especially Giles of whom she had found under a pile of demons. She smiled as all that he could say was "Good Lord" as he started to polish his glasses. Her smile faded however as she realized that someone from their group was missing. "Hey where's Xander?"

* * *

As Brendon materialized on top of the building that someone was watching him on, he looked around only to see that no one was there. As he was about to turn around, intent on leaving Sunnydale forever he bumped into someone.

"Where you going, bro?" Xander asked with a goofy grin. "You're not leaving the party are you?"

"You? What are you doing here? I thought I killed you?"

"Hey what can I say... you can't keep a good Harris down." he said as they both shared a short laugh. "So how does it feel to be the big hero?"

"You can have the hero gig little brother." Brendon said as he walked past him. "I'm out of here."

"You know I always wanted a big brother... I didn't think you'd be this big of a jerk though."

"What did you say?" Brendon asked as he whirled around and stared at him hard.

"I mean look at it this way. You have the perfect opportunity to have everything. A family, friends, love, a new life. Why not take it?" Xander asked as he looked beyond Brendon, even though he was walking towards him, taking the band of Blacknil and his cherub sword back as he walked past.

"Where are you going, Xander?" Brendon asked, not questioning why he took the golden ring.

"I made a promise to the man upstairs and I intend on keeping it." Xander said not turning around to face him. "But don't worry I'll be back one day and until then I want you to watch after Buffy... and my family and friends."

"What if I don't want too?" Brendon asked as he turned around, only to see his brother disappear in heavenly light. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could've sworn that he saw Angel wings on his brother's back. Shaking his head of that thought, he walked to the edge of the building pondering his fate and looked down at the faces of the Scooby gang, his human father Tony, and at the people who had and would've given their lives to protect this world. He would look out for them for now and at least until his brother returned as he promised.

A sudden smile crossing his lips, he turned and walked away into the shadows. He had a strong craving for a Twinkie and he didn't know why.


	8. Epilogue King of Hell

Epilogue

King of Hell

Hell

"I was so close." Satan whined as he sat on his throne, his demonic wenches rubbing his body as they walked in a circle around him. His oldest daughter was dead, his son betrayed him, and on top of that he had to spend all eternity with the queen of all bitches.

"That's what I always hated about you, Lucy." Glory said as she sat on the arm rest of his seat. "You whine too much."

"Well, I did kill millions of humans." he agreed, feeling a little better about himself. That lasted only a second as he looked up and saw a familar figure walking towards them. "No not you again."

"What?" Xander asked with a pout. "You hate seeing old friends? Oh Lucy you need to lighten up some. Especially since we're going to spend so much time together."

"What do you mean?" Satan asked standing to his feet and knocking whores out of his way.

"Just call me a gift from, Jehovah." Xander replied with a smirk. "And, I'm here to torture you for... maybe a couple of hundred years or so."

"Get him."

"I thought you'd say something like that." Xander replied as he started to hack and slash at the demons. Somewhere in a place called Heaven, God smiled at this.


End file.
